NBI given 10 days to submit report on Jolo 'misencounter'

The National Bureau of Investigation is due to submit an initial report on its probe into the “misencounter” — the Philippine Army's commanding general has rejected the term — between police officers and soldiers in Jolo, Sulu in 10 days, said Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.

Four members of an Army intelligence unit were killed after police shot at them, allegedly in self-defense, in Jolo on Monday.

Guevarra confirmed that the NBI has been asked by both the military and the police to investigate the incident, after two drastically different stories on the incident were given by the two uniformed services involved.

The DOJ chief said that the NBI's Zamboanga Regional Office will handle the probe. “I will issue a department order. Initial report in 10 days,” Guevarra added.

According to a report from the Sulu Police Provincial Office, patrolling cops from the Jolo Municipal Police Station and the Police Drug Enforcement Unit "accosted" four armed men onboard an SUV, who initially attempted to flee but later pointed guns at them.

The Philippine military for its part told a very different story, saying that the cops "approached and fired upon them for still unknown reasons." The soldiers were said to be “hot on trail of Abu Sayyaf members, bomb makers and suicide bombers” when they were killed.

The Sulu Provincial Office said at least five policemen were involved in the incident. They have been disarmed and put in police custody.

This is not the first “misencounter” between the two government forces, as this happened in June 2018 in Sta. Rita, Samar that left six police officers dead and nine others wounded.

In April, the Philippine Army also asked the NBI to conduct an independent probe into the police's fatal shooting of its former soldier Winston Ragos over a supposed quarantine protocol violation.