THE Philippine Army's 8th Infantry Division (ID) based in Catbalogan, Samar on Saturday, June 30, issued a "letter of apology" to the bereaved families of the six junior police officers who were killed in a "misencounter" in Sta. Rita, Samar on June 25.
"To set things straight at the soonest possible time, a Board of Inquiry (BOI) was created which is mainly composed of personnel from the General Headquarters, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Headquarters Philippine Army (HPA), and 8ID," the Army division said in its letter posted on its official social media site.
The Army "wants to convey our sincerest apology to the families, relatives, and friends of the six fallen members of the 1st Platoon, 805th Company, and Regional Mobile Force Battalion 8 of the Philippine National Police who died in the incident that transpired in Sitio Lonoy, Barangay San Roque," it said.
They also assured the public that the 8ID "will cooperate fully during the conduct of the investigation of the BOI."
"We will be objective and transparent to shed light on the incident and will make appropriate actions thereafter to those who will be proven to have committed any lapses or violated established rules and regulations.
"We will expedite the conduct of the investigation so that the truth will be established and ease the burden of sorrow of the bereaved families," the letter further reads.
The letter of apology also came after President Rodrigo Duterte owned up the "ultimate blame" over the death of the six policemen "being the Commander-in-Chief."
"I do not want to use the word. But ako po 'yung pinaka nila. And so there was a lot of tragic stories weaved around the incident," Duterte said on Friday as he graced the 129th fiesta celebration of Tacloban City.
In his speech, the president said that he had told the Army and the PNP to forget about the incident, saying it was not intentional.
"Sabi ko sa kanila, 'Kalimutan na lang ninyo. Tutal, hindi naman sinasadya.' At you know, the Murphy's Law operates the way it is. If things can go wrong, it will go wrong," Duterte said.
"And so I said, 'Kayong mga pulis, ako 'yung pinaka-commander ninyo, pati 'yung kayo mga army, ako rin. And so you -- let's just to say that it's all my fault. But since you are all my soldiers, let us forget the hurts, allow the investigation to go on, and let us see what develops in the future," the firebrand president said.
Earlier, Army chief Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. said they "don't want to speculate on something that we don't know what really happened."
"Let us just wait for the result of the investigation. Our joint investigation team, the board of inquiry will be the first to know," Galvez said during his visit to the wake of the slain policemen.
He added that the army's firearms have been subjected to ballistic tests.
While the RMFB-Eastern Visayas Commander Superintendent Glen Oliver Cinco and Chief Inspector Don Archie Suspeñe, command officer of the RMFB8's 805th Manuever Company who led the troops in the operation were temporarily relieved, pending investigation.
Despite the incident, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said that their relationship with the Army remains strong.
Killed police officers during the"misencounter were Police Officer (PO) 1 Phil J Rey Mendigo, PO1 Edwin Ebrado, PO1 Wyndell Noromor, PO1 Rowel Reyes, PO1 Julie Escalo, and PO1 Julius Suarez.
Injured were PO1 Romulo Cordero, PO1 Elmer Pan, PO1 Chris Angelo Pialago, PO1 Jaime Galoy, PO1 Rey Barbosa, PO1 Jonel Gonzaga, PO1 Rommel Bagunas, PO1 Janmark Adones, and PO1 Roden Goden, who were all awarded with medals to honor their courage and bravery.
The PNP handed out financial assistance to the families of the six fallen policemen.
Both the Army and the PNP were at the vicinity of the said village for anti-insurgency operations.
