This happened in a city in the Visayas but I guess it’s happening in many barangays elsewhere
given our country’s widespread drug trafficking problem.
Panay News reported that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) had been
pressuring barangay officials to cooperate in the campaign against drug
trafficking.
But in a recent sting operation, its
operatives appeared to be distrustful of local leaders.
The council of a barangay in the city where a
buy-bust operation was staged passed a resolution condemning PDEA agents. The village officials complained that “the
raiding team did not coordinate, inform or invite any member of the council”
about their operations.
 |
|
An agent
of the Philippine Drug Enforcement
Agency (right) leads
a
provincial board member out of the
PDEA headquarters to a
|
But a PDEA regional director said that there was
nothing illegal or irregular with what his men did. He cited previous experiences that made his
agents less trusting of barangay officials in anti-drug operations.
Officially witnessing actual anti-drug operations or simply having authority over any government operations in a barangay is within the powers of barangay officials.
This could be the reason why these officials accused PDEA of “knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully” not
observing and following the prescribed rules and procedures in buy-bust
operations.
But another set of laws seems to be
in favor of PDEA in a way. Section 21 of Republic
Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act) did not require witnesses in
anti-illegal drug operations to be from a subject barangay.
The experience of the agency showed
many instances when barangay officials who witnessed buy-bust operations would
deny having signed the inventory sheet of items recovered from drug suspects.
Some of them even claimed that their signatures were forged.
These incidents often led to dismissal
of many cases filed against drug suspects.
Confidentiality of the drug
operation is a prime consideration, according to the drug agency.
When staging sting operations, PDEA
agents take into consideration several factors. This includes the possibility
of barangay officials protecting the drug suspects.
According to one of its officials, “there should be no leaks as to
when or where the PDEA agents would operate so as to deny drug suspects the
chance of fleeing", reported Panay News.
