(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday, July 3, expressed hope the National Bureau of Investigation would “find the truth for us” in the shooting of four soldiers by several policemen in Jolo.
The President, who had flown to Zamboanga to meet with Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police officials to discuss the incident that left the four soldiers dead on Monday, made the statement as he appealed to soldiers for calm.
“Kung sino man may kasalanan, then he has to pay for it,” he said.
He said revenge would not bring back the lives of the four soldiers, who the Army said were on a mission to track down terrorists in a barangay.
A police report from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had said the “armed men” who introduced themselves as soldiers when accosted by police pointed a gun at the policemen after fleeing upon arrival at the Jolo municipal police station.
The report said the policemen had wanted to verify the identities of the soldiers.
AFP commanding general Gilbert Gapay defended his men, saying there was no provocation on their part, nor any altercation between the soldiers and the policemen to warrant such a “carnage.”
The President said the real enemies were the New People’s Army and Abu Sayyaf, and the military and the police worked hand in hand.
“I am pleading, nakikiusap ako na tulungan ninyo ako to keep the waters in the meantime calm and we wait for the result of the investigation,” the President said.
The PNP, which earlier said the incident was a misencounter, retracted its statement, saying the soldiers never fired a single shot.
The PNP has also relieved nine policemen following the incident, and removed from his post Police Lieutenant Colonel Walter Annayo, chief of the Jolo Municipal Police Station, to pave the way for an impartial probe.
