By Froilan Gallardo .
THE National Police today disarmed all the policemen involved in the shooting of two army officers and two enlisted soldiers in downtown Jolo yesterday.
PNP spokesperson Brig. General Bernard Banac said the policemen are all detained in their barracks pending the result of an investigation on the shooting.
Two Army officers identified as Major Indamog, commanding officer of the 9th Intelligence Security Unit; Capt. Irwin Managuelod; Sgt. Eric Velasco and Cpl. Abdal Asula, were all killed by policemen in Barangay Bus-bus in Jolo town yesterday.
Banac called the incident “a misencounter” between police and the Army.
“There might be a lack of coordination and communication,” Banac told CNN Philippines.
Army commander Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay said the soldiers were not doing anything to provoke such a response from the policemen.
Gapay also said it is not true that personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency were involved in the shooting.
“Based on eyewitness accounts, no altercation transpired between the two parties nor was there any provocation on the part of Army personnel to warrant such carnage,” Gapay said in a press statement.
Joint Task Force Sulu Commander Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan said the soldiers raised their hands and introduced themselves but the policemen fired at them.
A military official said Indamog was giving Managuelod and orientation course on the possible locations of the suicide bombers of Hatib Hajab Sawadjaan, a Filipino militant identified with the Abu Sayyaf.
A PNP spot report obtained by MindaNews said a joint PNP and PDEA patrol stopped the “four armed persons” who boarded a Gray Mitsubishi Montero SUV in Barangay Bus-bus.
The police investigator identified as Police Staff Sgt. Abdel Haffeez Amin wrote in his report that the victims were “directed to proceed at the Jolo Municipal Police Station for verification.”
Amin said upon arriving at the Jolo police station, the victims fled with the SUV towards Martirez, Barangay Raymundo, also in Jolo town.
“When the PNP personnel chased them, the said person disembarked at their vehicle with their firearms,” The PNP report said.
Amin said the policemen fired at the victims when they saw them pointing their firearms at them “before they could pull the trigger.”
Pictures taken by netizens in Jolo however show there were no firearms beside the bodies of the slain soldiers.
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