MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) has called for an investigation to determine if there was a provocation prior to the misencounter in Jolo, Sulu that killed four Philippine Army intelligence personnel.
PNP spokesman Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac said that the probe by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will also help them to do measures so that this will not happen again.
“We know that our soldiers there are also performing their duties. Everybody there in that part of Sulu, all members of the security forces, are there to fight threat of terrorism,” Banac told CNN Philippines.
“We really have to dig deeper on this. We need to know the actual conversations on what really transpired,” he added. “Yes, we consider it as misencounter. This is really just an unfortunate incident.”
Four soldiers conducting intelligence operations were tracking the location of reported suicide bombers under the group of Mundi Sawajaan in coordination with Joint-Task Force Sulu and the 11th Infantry Division in Jolo.
They were flagged down by cops and asked to proceed to the police station to further verify but the soldiers allegedly escaped, prompting them to chase the troops. They also said the soldiers pointed their firearms at them so they gunned down the military troops.
“For maybe lack of proper identification and lack of communication between and among ourselves,” Banac said. “This thing could have been prevented. This is a big lesson for us. We will take this seriously so this won’t happen again.”
AFP spokesman Brigadier General Edgard Arevalo, however, said there was no exchange of gunfire that transpired between police officers and soldiers and that the victims did not attempt to escape.
“Malinaw na walang naganap na barilan at kung makikita natin ang mga larawan, ‘yung mga sundalo ay nandoon malapit sa sasakyan at ‘yung isa nandoon pa sa loob,” he said.
“Lumampas ang sasakyan ng mga sundalo doon sa headquarters ng Philippine National Police, almost sa tapat na po ng headquarters ng Bureau of Fire Protection. Hindi naman po ito tumalilis o tumakas kagaya ng naunang report bagamat bahagya po siyang lumagpas dito sa headquarters ng Philippine National Police,” he added.
Meanwhile, Malacanang said it will leave to the NBI to do its investigation on the Jolo misencounter, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
“Hintayin muna natin ang imbestigasyon,” Roque said. “Hotspot po talaga ang Jolo ngayon, patuloy ang aktibidad ng terorista diyan. Mataas ang tensyon, I will not make any conclusions right now while NBI investigation is ongoing.”/PN
