Army chief Gapay cries murder over soldiers' deaths in hands of policemen in Jolo

For Philippine Army chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay, the incident in Jolo, Sulu was not a misencounter but murder.

An enraged Gapay faced reporters on Tuesday afternoon during the arrival honors for the remains of three of the four soldiers killed by police officers on Monday.

Gapay pointed out that if there was indeed a firefight, it is impossible that there is no casualty on the side of the policemen.

"It was murder. It is murder... there is no misencounter dahil hindi naman pumutok 'yung tropa namin. Nandoon 'yung mga baril nila sa baba. These are PNP personnel, kung may misencounter, nagkaputukan, palagay niyo walang tatamaan na PNP? This was no misencounter here, it was a rubout..." Gapay said.

According to Gapay, nine police personnel were involved in the incident which claimed the lives of Major Marvin Indamog, Captain Irwin Managuelod, Sergeant Eric Velasco and Corporal Abdal Asula.

Aside from the motive, Gapay said the military wants to find out why the policemen supposedly left the bodies of the government troops.

"Mga four to five 'yung bumaril, the others served as lookout. After mapatay nila lahat, they fled. SOP ba 'yun? Diba pag may namatay, you have to cordone the area and wait for SOCO? Wala, nagtakbuhan lahat eh. So this is another thing we have to find out in the investigation," he said.

He identified the cops as Police Staff Sergeant Almudzrin Hadjaruddin, Patrolman Alkalaj Mandangan, Patrolman Rajiv Putalan, Police Senior Master Sergeant Abdelzhimar Padjiri, Police Master Sergeant Hanie Baddiri, Police Staff Sergeant Iskandar Susulan, Police Staff Sergeant Ernisar Sappal, Police Corporal Sulki Andaki, and Patrolman Moh Nur Pasani. -NB, GMA News