Labella to PDEA-7, police: Maintain coordination

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella urges the police and PDEA agents to exercise coordination in their operations. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has appealed to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) and the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to work together in anti-drug operations in the city.

This he said in fear that the “misencounter” in Quezon City, Metro Manila, where two PDEA agents and an informant died in the hands of the police on February 24, 2021, may happen here.

The mayor said that as he commends both agencies in continuing the fight against illegal drugs even amid the pandemic, he encouraged them to always coordinate their movements to avoid any misencounter.

He said that the city government treasures the lives of both PDEA agents and police and would lament the death of any of its members especially in a similar incident in Quezon City.

In a letter to PDEA-7 Director Levi Ortiz and CCPO director, Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, to coordinate and maintain a good relationship despite possible strained relations of their two agencies on the national level.

“That being said, I am requesting your good office to maintain proper coordination with each other for us to achieve more milestones in the fight against illegal drugs, in the safest and most peaceful way possible,” said the mayor.

Labella said that he trusts that the two agencies will have picked up the lesson of the Quezon City incident that coordination must always be observed in any operations.

“We don’t want the recent ‘misencounter’ between the police and PDEA agents in Quezon City to happen in our City. I trust that our CCPO and PDEA-7 have maintained proper coordination aron pagseguro sa luwas ug malinawon nga mga operasyon batok sa illegal nga drugas dinhi sa atong siyudad,” he added. /rcg