Lorenzana to Army officers over Sulu incident: Avoid inflaming emotions

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday said he has talked to military commanders, urging them not to "inflame" emotions of government troops following the incident in Jolo, Sulu which resulted in the slay of four of their colleagues.

"I told the troops, the commanders yesterday to let us not inflame the emotions of the soldiers, we don't want this to escalate some more," Lorenzana said during an online forum.

"Something is being done and we will get to the bottom of this. There are a lot of witnesses there when it happened, civilians and soldiers. There is the CCTV to cover us that recorded the incident. I think it's simple looking at the evidence," Lorenzana added.

Lorenzana mentioned that the probe of the National Bureau of Investigation on the incident is nearly finished.

"The President has ordered the NBI to conduct an investigation and I think the investigation is about to be finished. According to Secretary Año yesterday, I think he already has the initial result of the investigation," Lorenzana said.

Philippine Army chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay had made strong statements about the incident, saying that what happened last June 29 was murder perpetrated by police officers. He also slammed the spot report released by the police, claiming that it was fabricated and full of lies.

The Philippine National Police earlier branded the incident as a misencounter, but spokesman Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac has retracted his previous remark and clarified that what transpired was a shooting incident based on what was indicated in the police report.

According to the military, the four slain soldiers were conducting intelligence operations in tracking alleged suicide bombers when they were flagged down by the policemen.

Cops claimed that the soldiers escaped, that's why they chased them. According to the police report, the military men pointed their weapons at the cops, prompting the latter to gun down the soldiers.

Nine police officers have been relieved and disarmed following the incident. Police Lieutenant Colonel Walter Annayo, chief of the Jolo Municipal Police Station, has also been removed from his post. 

They are under the custody of the Sulu Provincial Police Office. —LBG, GMA News