Sulu cops who gunned down soldiers now in Camp Crame

NINE COPS accused of fatally shooting 4 army intelligence agents in Sulu’s capital town of Jolo are under restrictive custody at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame

in Quezon City. PNP Chief General Archie Francisco Gamboa ordered the policemen’s transfer to ensure their availability in the investigation being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)

The Philippine Army said the soldiers, all clad in civilian clothes, were in a car on a covert mission to capture 2 suicide bombers, when policemen intercepted them in Jolo town and ordered the agents to come with them to the police headquarters so they can verify their identities. But the police said cops opened fire on the soldiers after they sped off and allegedly tried to shoot the lawmen, an allegation strongly denied by the military.

The policemen Abdelzhimar Padjiri, Hanie Baddiri, Iskandar Susulan, Ernisar Sappal, Sulki Andaki and Mohamad Nur Pasani - all members of the Jolo municipal police force; and Almudzrin Hadjaruddin, Alkajal Mandangan, and Rajiv Putalan, of the Provincial Police Drug Enforcement Unit, was brought to Camp Crame by Brigadier General Manuel Abu, the regional police chief.

They were turned over to Colonel Jerich Royales, Deputy Director for Operations of the Headquarters Support Service.

In Sulu, Governor Sakur Tan met separately with members of the joint military and police board of inquiry, and members of the NBI led by Solomon Ticbayan who called on him at his office.

Tan welcomed the seniors military officials headed by Lieutenant General Franco Nemecio Gacal, Inspector General of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; Major General Corleto Vinluan, commander of the 11th Infantry Division, and Assistant Division commander Brigadier General Peter Angelo Ramos, Brigadier General Gilbert Saret, commander of the 1001st Infantry Brigade; and Colonel Hilarion Palma.

And PNP officials led by Brigadier General Benjamin Acorda Jr, Executive Officer for the Directorate for Intelligence; Colonel Mario Buyucan, Chief of Intelligence Division under the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations in Western Mindanao; Colonel Michael Bawayan Jr , the provincial police chief; and Major Edilberto Santiago.

Officials from the National Police Commission in the Muslim autonomous region headed by lawyer Nasif Brian Meditar and Inspector Hajandri Sampang and John Rigor Fernandez also met with Tan.

Stay Calm

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier flew to Zamboanga City and met with military commanders, appealed to them to stay calm as he ordered an investigation into the killings.

Duterte promised for an impartial investigation, assuring justice for the slain soldiers.

“Pumunta ako dito (sa Zamboanga) hihingi ako ng tulong ninyo. I am pleading. Nakikiusap ako. Nihangyo ko ninyo na tabangan ko ninyo pagpakalma to keep the waters in the meantime calm and we wait for the result of the investigation. I am giving you my word of honor that the investigation will proceed to find out the truth unfettered, unbridled by anybody except ‘yung sa trabaho. Walang makialam at ‘yung totoo lang. Iyon ang maasahan ninyo. At kung sino man ang may kasalanan, then he has to pay for it.”

“What I’m saying is we’re trying to figure out how we can in the meantime do something to give you the assurance that justice will be done. So I’m giving it to you, I said, as a word of honor of a President na I will find out the truth from the investigators and I hope that it would satisfy all,” he told the military.

Duterte said he was saddened by the incident and started reminding soldiers all the benefits and increase in salaries he gave them and ensured the welfare of the police and the military has always been his top priority since becoming president in 2016.

(Provincial Government Photo) Influential and highly-respected Sulu Governor Sakur poses with senior AFP and PNP officials at his Capitol office in Patikul town.