MANILA -- The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has intensified its internal cleansing efforts as part of its commitment to weed out erring agents and personnel, particularly those involved in the illegal drug trade.
PDEA Director General Aaron N. Aquino announced this after an incident involving persons wearing PDEA uniforms while tagging along alleged arrested drug personalities and rode aboard two vehicles was captured on closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in Barangay Ususan, Taguig City last February 4.
On Feb. 18, the same group returned to the same village where they had a run-in with police following reports of kidnap-for-ransom activities.
However, after engaging authorities in hot pursuit, the group managed to evade arrest.
Several men dressed in dark green PDEA shirts were also spotted boarding the Montero SUV with long firearms.
As the barangay officials expressed doubt on the two vehicles seen again in their CCTV, they immediately called the police for verification.
Aquino has vowed to dig deeper into allegations that its operatives are involved in unlawful arrests and extortion activities in Taguig City.
“Based on CCTV footages, we have to identify first if the perpetrators whose faces were partly covered, are PDEA agents or masquerading as one. If it indeed they are from our ranks, PDEA will never hesitate to dismiss them from the service to serve as a stern warning to those who are contemplating on doing the same,” Aquino said.
“PDEA is continuously intensifying its internal cleansing program as part of its commitment to weed out erring agents and personnel involved in the illegal drug trade and other anomalous activities,” Aquino added.
In light of the incident, PDEA also reiterates its warning to the public about unscrupulous people posing as PDEA agents and then commit crimes.
The PDEA chief encourages the people to be watchful and report to the nearest PDEA Office persons pretending to be PDEA agents.
To send reports to PDEA 24/7 Text Hotlines, text the following hotline numbers:
Text: Name of Perpetrator/Poser and Complete Information
Send to: For SMART Subscribers -- 0999-888 PDEA (7332); for Sun Subscribers -- 0925-573 PDEA (7332); for Globe Subscribers -- 0927-915-0616. (PNA)
