EDITORIAL - San Fernando drug den: Intelligence failure or police protection

CEBU, Philippines - The Regional Police Office-7 leadership is demanding an explanation from the San Fernando town policemen who reportedly failed to act against a drug den that operates just 300 meters away from their station.

Senior Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas, the chief of PRO-7's directorial staff, vowed that personnel of the San Fernando Police Station will have a lot of explaining to do over the operation of the drug den.

Media reports said some students would cut classes and converge on the drug den to take illegal drugs. This prompted a schoolteacher to seek the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation. NBI operatives then swooped down on the drug den and arrested two brothers allegedly responsible for its operation.

Now, officials at the regional police headquarters are investigating the San Fernando policemen's alleged inability to detect the existence of the drug den just several hundred meters away from their station.

As we see it, there are two areas that investigating PRO-7 officials should look into. And these areas must include whether there is a total failure in the town policemen's intelligence gathering or whether they were just reluctant to respond to complaints from residents because they are receiving protection money from those behind the drug den.

For one, a failure in intelligence gathering would only mean poor network that would, in turn, greatly affect the operation of the whole police force. Of course, this is a clear defiance of the order of the PRO-7 leadership for all police stations to use all means in the all-out campaign against the illegal drug trade.

And we cannot also just blame those who believe the San Fernando policemen, for their failure to act against the drug den, are receiving drug money. That it took town residents to instead seek the help of the NBI only brings many to conclude that police protection play a vital role in the drug den's operation.

Whatever the findings of the police regional officials, heads should roll over the operation of the drug den that the town police failed to crack.