No administrative suspension yet for cops in Jolo shooting incident —PNP chief

Administrative suspension has yet to be slapped against the nine police officers involved in the June 29 shooting incident in Jolo, Sulu that left four soldiers dead, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Archie Gamboa told a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

"They are not administratively suspended because we cannot do so. There is a due process of law," Gamboa said.

Gamboa said "the most" that the PNP can do for now is to keep the involved police officers under restrictive custody.

"We cannot even detain them. We cannot even preventively suspend them unless there's due process... So what happens is that complaints are filed, investigated and then if they are found guilty of the administrative charge then they can be suspended," he said.

Meanwhile, PNP-Internal Affairs Service Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo said that aside from the respondents to the criminal complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigation, they are also looking at the liability of at least five more Sulu-based police officers.

Preventive suspension can be implemented once administrative complaints are filed, he said.

"Once we file the formal complaints against these respondents, that's the time that under the rule of the NAPOLCOM governing the dispositions of administrative cases against respondent uniformed police personnel, that's the time that the chief PNP can preventively suspend," Triambulo said.

For now, the nine cops are under restrictive custody so that their movements would be limited and their presence will be ensured during the investigation, he added.

The NBI has filed four counts of murder and planting of evidence against the involved police officers, and recommended the filing of neglect of duty complaints against three more local policemen.

Two weeks ago, the Department of Justice said it would issue subpoenas to the respondent police officers.

On June 29, the military men were tracking suicide bombers when the shooting incident transpired.

The soldiers were flagged down by cops in Barangay Walled City. Despite identifying themselves as members of the military, they were instructed to go to the police station for further verification of their identities.

According to a police spot report, the shooting incident happened when the soldiers escaped and pointed their weapons at the police officers. This allegedly prompted the policemen to fire at the soldiers.

The NBI said one of the soldiers had eight gunshot wounds while two had three each. The body of the fourth soldier was immediately buried in accordance with Islamic tradition. —KBK, GMA News