Duterte says only NBI should probe PDEA-PNP deadly shootout

The incident, which was previously described as misencounter, left four people dead and four others injured.

Duterte ordered a joint panel formed by the PNP and PDEA “to discontinue their ongoing investigation,” said Palace spokesman Harry Roque.


President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to solely investigate the deadly shooting incident involving Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) officials.

“Nagdesisyon po ang ating Presidente na tanging NBI lang po ang mag-iimbestiga doon sa putukan na nangyari sa panig ng mga kapulisan at PDEA d’yan po sa Quezon City,” Roque said.

“This is to ensure impartiality on the Quezon City shootout incident,” he added.

Roque said that the NBI has the mandate to investigate men in uniform.

Top officials of the PNP and PDEA scrapped the ‘misencounter’ tag in the botched buy-bust operation in Quezon City on Thursday.

Police Gen. Debold Sinas, PNP chief, and PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva both stated that there was prior coordination before the fatal shooting incident took place near Ever Gotesco Mall.
“We’re not going to speculate on what happened. That is why we collected the cellphones of both parties, so we know where they’re coming from. We’re going to make an analytic investigation. As far as those cellphones are concerned, we still do not know what was happening at the time,” Villanueva said.

“What we can tell you is that both the PDEA and PNP were conducting legitimate operations…both of them were doing their jobs. So that’s what we’re working on. Right now, it’s too raw for us to be making a statement. Right now, we are mourning. We cannot tell who was doing what, because we don’t have the evidence. Give us time to process the evidence,” he added.

Philippines Ambassador In Kuwait Rejects Blood Money Negotiation For Murdered OFW

The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait has maintained that it will not negotiate with any attempt for blood money in the case of slain Filipina domestic worker Jeanelyn Villavende.

Villavende was murdered in 2019 by her employers in Kuwait, prompting the Philippine government to impose a deployment ban.

The female employer of Villavende has been sentenced to death by hanging in Kuwait.

“Ang posisyon ng embassy tungkol kay Villavende is unang-una, we pursue death sentence against the employer. Now, maganda ang resulta. Ang desisyon ng Kuwait Criminal Court is death sentence,” Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait H.E. Mohd. Noordin Pendosina Lomondot, told ABS-CBN News.

“Ito nga yung inasam-asam natin na death for death, life for life, and blood for blood. So, ang embassy natin, wala ng ibang posisyon kundi talagang ma-execute itong pumatay kay Villavende para din mabigyan ng justice si Villavende,” Lomondot said.

The Philippine Embassy lead counsel, Atty. Sheikha Fawzia Al-Sabah, a Kuwaiti human rights lawyer, said the court’s ruling is fair and in compliance with the law and Sharia.

Both Lomondot and Fawzia rejected requests to negotiate for the family or blood money.

“As to blood money, the embassy or Attorney Fawzia does not have any authority or does not involve ourselves, with this kind of negotiation of blood money. Basta ang posisyon lang natin is execution for the culprit,” Lomondot said.

The Ambassador however noted that it is up to the family of Villavende if they will accept the blood money offer in exchange for downgrading the sentence.

“So, nasa accused na ‘yon kung makikipag-negotiate siya sa NOK (next of kin). At kung pumayag ang NOK, pwedeng ma-commute ang sentence. Yung pamilya ng namatayan, pwede ma-negotiate ang sentence dahil entitled sila riyan. Sinabihan, very clear ang Qur’an dyan, at saka sa Shariah yan, na they could negotiate for blood money. But it is the position of the embassy and our lawyer not to negotiate for any blood money,” Lomondot explained.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddyboy Locsin Jr. has called the attention of Lomondot over an attempt to pay blood money worth Php7.5 million.

“The P7.5 million blood money to pay off this horror is changing hands even as I tweet; ordered Kuwait PE Lomondot to stop it; on our part we must match the P7.5 million offer to her surviving kin—NOW! Lomondot must make sure the court judgment of death is carried out;” Locsin tweeted.