President Rodrigo Duterte will get to the bottom of the alleged “misencounter” between operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) near a mall along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on Wednesday night, Malacañang said Thursday.

In a press briefing in Negros Oriental, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this assurance, saying the President expressed sadness and concern over the incident that took place between two groups of government forces.

Roque said the President was informed of the shootout after recording his public address in Malacañan Palace on Wednesday night.

“The President, of course, expressed both sadness and concern on why this happened among government forces. He assured, like the assurance he gave when this happened in Sulu we will get to the bottom of this incident,” Roque said partly in Filipino.

He also expressed confidence that parallel investigations by the ad hoc joint PNP-PDEA team and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will shed light on the incident.

“We are confident po that with the PNP and the PDEA forming an investigation panel and Justice Secretary [Menardo Guevarra] ordering to conduct its own parallel investigation that we will know the truth behind this incident and justice will be done,” he added.

Based on reports from Batasan Police Station 6, the alleged misencounter between PNP and PDEA took place while both camps were conducting drug buy-busts.

At least two policemen were killed while at least three from the PDEA group were brought to the hospital.