Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday expressed hope that the agreement between the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation on the probe of so-called “nanlaban” cases or drug war cases that resulted in the deaths of suspects would be signed before PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar retires next month.
“We hope that the NBI and the PNP will be able to sign their memorandum of agreement (MOA) before PNP Chief Eleazar’s retirement,” Guevarra said.
Eleazar will reach his mandatory retirement age of 56 on November 13.
Guevarra expressed confidence that even if there would be a change in leadership in the PNP, it would continue to cooperate in finalizing the MOA on the investigation of “nanlaban” cases and would be committed in the drug war review since these are directives given by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The President has a standing order to the DOJ [Department of Justice] and the PNP to review the conduct of the drug war and to impose sanctions upon those who went beyond the bounds of the law. I expect that the next PNP Chief, whoever he may be, will strictly comply with the President’s directive,” he said.
The DOJ has finished the draft MOA and forwarded it to the NBI and PNP for their review and inputs.
The draft memorandum would serve as the PNP and NBI’s guidelines in the conduct of a probe of future operations against illegal drugs where there would be allegations that the suspect/s who died fought back or “nanlaban.”
The PNP and NBI are expected to submit their comments within the week.
The DOJ also led the panel that reviewed the 52 police drug war operations, involving 154 policemen, that resulted in deaths.
The 154 policemen are already facing administrative liability before the PNP, and the NBI had been tapped to determine if there is a corresponding criminal liability.
The DOJ-led review panel is also looking at the 107 illegal drug operations conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
