FBI agents disregard Duterte’s warning

DAVAO CITY — Agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly sneaked into the city early last week despite a stern warning from Mayor Rodrigo Duterte that they should notify local authorities about their operations here, sources said.

The sources said two FBI agents were here last May 27 to interrogate somebody allegedly involved in terrorist activities in Central and Western Mindanao.

The agents’ arrival was tightly kept under wraps. Only a few and selected personnel of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Bureau of Immigration were allowed to join them.

The FBI sortie was also kept from intelligence units of both the military and the police.

Duterte earlier demanded that the FBI agents follow the rules of fundamental courtesy, particularly after they were reported to have been instrumental in the secret airlifting to the Makati Medical Center of 60-year-old British-American Michael Meiring, who was injured in a blast inside his hotel room here last May 16.

Meiring was flown out of this city without the knowledge of local authorities, including the police.

Duterte said Meiring has criminal and civil liabilities for keeping explosives inside his room at the budget Evergreen Hotel.

Meiring, an oncologist, was reported to be into treasure hunting in various parts of the country although he has frequented Southern Mindanao in the past 10 years.

"Please be more circumspect and consider respect. Equate sovereignty with dignity. They came nonchalant as if they owned the place. Our sovereignty does not come cheap," Duterte said.

CIDG sources told The STAR the FBI follows certain procedures when they conduct operations in certain localities.

"Based on our experience, we usually receive an advice from the national headquarters for the arrival of the FBI agents for a specific purpose. Our job has always been to meet them at the airport, escort them until they take their flight out," one of the sources said.

The CIDG sources added that FBI agents usually have a set of questions when they conduct their interrogation and that they hardly divert from their questionnaire.

They added that a certain level of confidentiality is exercised during FBI operations. But always, they said, concerned local officials are informed about their sorties.