What exactly happened?
What exactly happened to the five PDEA agents who were ambushed and killed in Lanao del Sur? PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said the agents were not asking for police escorts from the PNP, but the police insisted in providing. If so, why were the PDEA agents the only ones ambushed, and the police escorts unharmed? According to one of the survivors, the police were following them the whole time before overtaking and speeding away right before the ambush? Why is that? That alone is suspicious.
The police escorts have all been disarmed and relieved from their posts, pending the usual investigation. The PDEA has also asked for a parallel investigation from the NBI, because the PNP and PDEA cannot seem to get their stories to complement each other. Why did the police escorts speed away, minutes before the ambush? Was it to point out who the target vehicle was? Just like a movie. Are these police involved with those the PDEA were investigating? This incident doesn’t help the already strained relationship between the PDEA and the PNP, particularly after the magnetic lifters fiasco.
President Duterte has posthumously awarded the slain PDEA agents with medals. The families were also given cash incentives. The Palace has taken this opportunity to prove that a drug war exists. I don’t think anyone disputes that at this point. What must be pointed out is the possible involvement of active and former police officers. Just recently, Duterte released a new narco-list, composing mostly of ex-cops and politicians, in time for the mid-term elections. The Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) will forward the list to the Comelec, in the hope of disqualifying narco-politicians from running. The DILG leaves it up to Comelec.
It is really hard to differentiate the good guys from the bad, especially with the involvement of law enforcement agents. Civilians are at a loss as to how to deal with the situation. Personally, I give more credibility to the PDEA. When President Duterte made PDEA the lead agency in the drug war, I was actually relieved. But then all I heard was how PDEA could not handle the situation, coming from Duterte himself. But I actually saw PDEA make some ground, even arresting a police bodyguard of a known drug supplier. But that only lasted several months. What was noticeable was the lesser body count on the streets. Perhaps Duterte was not satisfied with that, because he delegated the PNP as lead agency once again, with PDEA in a supporting role. Now this.
We may never see an end to the drug war. The death of Pablo Escobar did not see an end to illegal drugs in Colombia. The void left by Escobar merely allowed other players such as the Cali Cartel to step up, and so on. Obviously, nobody can tell Duterte what he’s doing is wrong. But with the PNP and PDEA possibly filling up a void left by the local drug lords, a turf war may be brewing.
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