Guevarra assures impartial NBI probe on QC misencounter

MANILA – Justice Menardo Guevarra has assured that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will be fair and impartial in looking into the alleged misencounter between members of the Quezon City Police Department (QCPD) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) last week.

Guevarra said the NBI’s impartiality in similar investigations in the past was a testament to its credibility.

“The NBI will go anywhere its investigation will lead it. We’ve seen this many times before, more recently in the case of the tapioca shipment containing shabu. That’s why the President (Rodrigo Duterte) trusts the agency,” Guevarra told reporters on Sunday.

On Friday, Duterte ordered the NBI to be the sole agency to investigate the shooting incident near the Ever Gotesco mall along Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City on Feb. 24.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said separate investigations by the joint join panel formed by the PNP and PDEA to probe the incident will no longer proceed.

Roque said Duterte’s latest directive was meant to “ensure impartiality on the Quezon City shootout incident.”

On Wednesday night, personnel of the Quezon City Police District special operations launched a drug buy-bust at a fast-food chain parking lot when they found out they were transacting with PDEA agents.

The botched undercover drug bust led to a gunfight that killed two policemen, a PDEA agent, and a PDEA informant.

Four PDEA agents were also wounded in the shootout.