A SENATOR on Monday questioned the alleged use of detainees by the police in anti-illegal drug operations and asked authorities to investigate the claims.
“Is it common practice of the police to use prisoners to help in their anti-illegal drug operations? Is this standard operating procedure? It seems reality is stranger than fiction,” Senator Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said in a statement in a mix of English and Filipino.
“The PNP (Philippine National Police) leadership should investigate this serious allegation,” she said.
During the public order committee hearing committee on Monday, Ms. Hontiveros presented a video clip of a female detainee who admitted working with the police during the anti-illegal drug operations this month in a Quezon City mall parking lot which resulted in a “near misencounter” with agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
The senator said this is not the first time that a detainee claimed that they were part of anti-illegal drugs operations.
She said there was also a report during the shootout between the drug enforcers and the police in February that another detainee was used by the police to pose as a buyer of shabu (methamphetamine). The seller turned out to be a PDEA agent. Two police officers died in the incident.
The senator previously filed Senate Resolution No. 667 calling for an inquiry on law enforcement protocols to avoid such misencounters. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas