PNP admits Jolo incident a misencounter, big lesson for police force

The Philippine National Police (PNP) admitted that the incident in Jolo, Sulu on Monday wherein  four military men were killed was a case of misencounter, spokesman Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac said on Tuesday. 

In a television interview, Banac underscored that the incident is a big lesson for the entire police force, noting that the police organization will do measures so that this will not happen again. 

"Yes, we consider it as misencounter, a case where our cops might not have been able to identify properly those soldiers are our colleagues... This is really just an unfortunate incident... for maybe lack of proper identification and lack of communication between and among ourselves," Banac told CNN. 

"This thing could have been prevented. This is a big lesson for us. We will take this seriously so this won't happen again," Banac added. 

Banac vowed that the PNP would fully cooperate with the NBI in its probe into the matter. He said the probe must also determine why the involved police officers decided to gun down the soldiers. 

"We have to determine was there really a threat against their lives and the sequence of events that figured this incident. As we know, the situation in Sulu is very tense and AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] and PNP are both cooperating against the threat in terrorism. We have to look at the overall picture," he explained. 

The number of cops involved in the unfortunate incident is still undetermined, according to Banac. 

The military earlier said four soldiers, who were 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 them to proceed to the police station to further verify that they are really part of the AFP. 

Police claimed that the soldiers escaped, prompting them to chase the troops. They also said the soldiers pointed their firearms at them so they gunned down the military troops. 

Western Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana said the incident could be a lapse of judgement on the part of the police officers, saying that the incident was an "overkill." 

The cops involved in the incident were already disarmed and were placed in the custody of the Sulu Provincial Police Office. —KG, GMA News