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SILG AÑO SAYS

Duterte to meet with PNP, AFP commanders in wake of Sulu ‘shooting incident’

By VIRGIL LOPEZ,GMA News

President Rodrigo Duterte will meet with top officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) following the killing of four soldiers at the hands of policemen in Jolo, Sulu earlier this week, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Thursday.

Año, who supervises the PNP, did not disclose the date and exact location of Duterte’s upcoming meeting with the PNP and AFP commanders, citing security reasons.

He said Duterte may also talk with the policemen involved in the fatal shooting of soldiers on Monday.

“It’s coming very, very soon,” Año said in a televised briefing. Prior to being named DILG chief, Año served as military chief.

Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque said on Wednesday the President was saddened by the incident that is subject of an ongoing probe by the National Bureau of Investigation.

The Philippine National Police earlier retracted its statement that what happened was a misencounter, admitting that the soldiers did not fire a single shot. PNP spokesman Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac said what transpired was a "shooting incident."

Army commanding general Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay, on the other hand, had described the incident as not a misencounter but "murder."

"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 earlier said.

The military said the soldiers were conducting intelligence operations in tracking alleged suicide bombers when they were flagged down by the policemen.

These men had identified themselves as military personnel but were directed to proceed to a nearby police station for further verification of their identities, according to the police report.

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Upon arriving at the station, the police report said, the soldiers allegedly tried to escape, prompting the policemen to chase them. The soldiers allegedly disembarked from their vehicle and pointed their weapons at their pursuers.

Police then fired shots at the soldiers, killing them. The bodies of three of the four soldiers were brought to Manila on Tuesday. The remains of the fourth soldier were immediately buried in accordance with Islamic tradition.

Investigations

Already, the NBI and the PNP-Internal Affairs Service are separately looking into the incident.  

Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros has also filed a resolution calling for an investigation into the matter.

The NBI is also investigating a CCTV footage where several men arrived at the crime scene shortly after the incident. The Philippine Army later clarified that those were soldiers who responded after the incident

The PNP has disarmed and relieved from their posts the nine policemen involved in the incident. Police Lieutenant Colonel Walter Annayo, chief of the Jolo Municipal Police Station, has also been removed from his post. — RSJ, GMA News