DELA ROSA ON THE PNP-PDEA MISENCOUNTER: HEARING CAN WAIT, JUSTICE CANNOT BE DENIED

Senator Ronald 'Bato' Dela Rosa believes that seeking justice for the recent misencounter between the Philippine National Police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Quezon City takes precedence over the need to amend or add to the policies involving law enforcement units.

Dela Rosa, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, confirmed Tuesday that the probe of the higher chamber will push through in due time as he expressed that there is nothing wrong with accommodating President Rodrigo Duterte's request for the said hearing to be deferred as the National Bureau of Investigation is completing its investigation.

"Yes, in due time. There is nothing wrong with giving in to the request of a co-equal branch of government, particularly the Malacañang, to enable our resource persons to concentrate on the investigation being conducted by the NBI," the senator said.

The former Chief of the Philippine National Police and architect of the Duterte administration's war of drugs emphasized that attaining justice shall take precedence over the legislative's policy formulation mandate.

"After all, the truth can more likely be achieved via cooperation and not competition. It is my humble opinion that the attainment of justice must take precedence over policy formulations. The latter can wait but the former cannot be denied," the former top cop said.

Dela Rosa's comment came after a colleague at the senate expressed that the higher chamber should assert its right to probe the misencounter.

"We seek to be enlightened in this proceeding but one thing is for sure, there were fatal casualties and we do not want that to ever happen again--most especially between our own government forces. Hopefully, after our hearing, we would be able to determine if there is a need to amend or revise our laws concerning our law enforcement authorities," Dela Rosa said in a statement a day after the incident.

The misencounter of the PNP and PDEA on February 24 in front of a mall along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City led to the death of two police officers, one PDEA operative and a PDEA informant.