New guidelines drafted for drug entrapment operations

Government agencies involved in the renewed campaign against illegal drugs have drafted new guidelines for the conduct of entrapment operations.

If followed to the letter, Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Chairman Vicente Sotto III said drug dealers who will be caught in entrapment operations “will have no other recourse but to plead guilty” to the crime and hope that the country’s courts of law “will pity them.”

“Hindi na nila masisilipan ito (There will be no loopholes this time). I am confident that lawyers of drug dealers will have a hard time,” Sotto told The STAR in an interview after a meeting with ranking officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (PNP-AID-SOTF), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday.

“As long as these rules are complied with, we will have airtight cases,” Sotto said, noting that the proposed guidelines will be submitted to President Arroyo as anti-illegal drugs czar for approval.

He explained that yesterday’s meeting at the DDB-PDEA building in Quezon City gave all agencies involved in the fight against the illegal drug trade a forum to come up with a common strategy in conducting entrapment operations against drug dealers.

The new rules are expected to prevent a repeat of the so-called “Alabang Boys” controversy where anti-narcotics agents were accused of not following operational procedures that led to the junking of the case by investigating prosecutors of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“We now have a common ground. In the fight against illegal drugs, PDEA will still be the lead agency but not the lone agency,” Sotto said.

He noted that the more specific details of the proposed guidelines, once approved by Malacañang, will be considered internal to the PDEA, the NBI, and the PNP-AID-SOTF.

He said the rules are outlined in four phases, beginning with the pre-buy bust part of any entrapment operation.

Sotto said the proposed rules stress that it is mandatory for any agency to have DOJ representatives, barangay officials, and other witnesses like the media in the serving of warrants.

He said involving newsmen for coverage or documentation of buy-bust operations will be on a case-to-case basis since there are occasions when too many persons knowing about an operation may jeopardize its implementation.

Operating rules

The PDEA, on the other hand, announced that it is now in the process of fine-tuning its Manual of Operations, which sets clear-cut guidelines on the systems and procedures governing the conduct of anti-drug operations.

Amidst insinuations that the agency failed to follow rules, with some even claiming that no rules were followed at all, officials said agents do follow guidelines when conducting buy-busts.

PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago clarified that there is an existing Manual of Operations for drug law enforcement crafted in 1999, when the National Drug Enforcement, Prevention and Coordinating Center (DEP Center) was activated as the immediate predecessor of PDEA which began on July 30, 2002.

He said the guidelines lay down specific procedures for the conduct of drug buy-bust operations, search and seizure or service of search warrants, drug interdiction, whether on land or at sea, and controlled delivery procedures among others.

Santiago said the procedures in the Manual of Operations are designed to complement the provisions of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

“The existing Manual is comprehensive; no changes are necessary for the procedures of buy-bust operations. We only have to implement some fine-tuning to suit operational peculiarities and realities on the ground, all within the ambit of the anti-drug law,” Santiago noted.

OSG to the rescue

Meanwhile, the Office of the Solicitor General yesterday launched a task force to assist the PDEA in the prosecution of illegal drugs cases.

“The President has designated the OSG to assist the PDEA in the build-up of cases in violation of the anti-drug law, among others. Because of that, the OSG has created the anti-drugs task force,” said Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera.

Devanadera said the task force, to be headed by Assistant Solicitor General Cielo Rondain, will be composed of 16 senior and junior lawyers from the OSG.  – With Mike Frialde