Five PDEA-7 agents probed for alleged staged buy-bust in Dumaguete
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Five agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) will be investigated for being involved in an alleged staged buy-bust operation in June 2020.
These agents were once assigned in Dumaguete City, said Levi Ortiz, PDEA-7 regional director.
However, three of the agents were already transferred or reassigned to the regional office before a court decision to have five of them investigated for the alleged staged buy-bust was handed down by the court.
The other two, who were still in Dumaguete City, were relieved of their post and would stay in the regional office while the investigation against them would be ongoing, said Ortiz.
“They will be reassigned here in the region pero dili sila tagaan og designation o position so floating status sila until such time nga ma resolve ang issue,” he said.
(They will be reassigned here in the region but they will not be given a designation or position. So they will be in a floating status until such time that the issue would be resolved.)
Ortiz said that investigators from the national headquarters would soon head over to the region to investigate the administrative charges filed against the five PDEA-7 agents.
Staged buy-bust
In previous reports, Judge Amelia Lourdes Mendoza of Branch 34, Dumaguete City of the Regional Trial Court issued an order to investigate the agents over the staged buy-bust last June 2020.
The court was able to obtain a closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage that showed how the suspects of the said buy-bust were picked up in different areas and not arrested in a house as what was stated in the PDEA-7 official report.
With this, Ortiz warned those in the service not to engage in illegal activities because the agency would not tolerate them.
“Kung naa may magpasaway, pasensya na lang mo kay the PDEA will not tolerate any irregularities of any kind sa mga ahente. Kana kay nahitabo mana, let this be a lesson to them nga wala tay pabor-pabor,” said Ortiz.
(If there are agents who choose to do bad things, then they would have to face the consequences because PDEA won’t tolerate any irregularities of any kind from the agents. And because that happened, let this be a lesson to anybody that we in PDEA don’t support anybody doing any irregularities.)
He also said that the agency had not been remiss in its duty to always remind agents about the aggressive and relentless campaign against illegal drugs in the region — but within the bounds of law.
Ortiz reiterated that the agency would not tolerate any irregularities being done by its agents and they would have to face the consequences if they would be proven guilty of the administrative charge against them./dbs
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