THE PNP Internal Affairs Service has filed administrative charges against nine policemen and their three immediate superiors in connection with the June 29 killing of four Army intelligence personnel in Jolo, Sulu.
PNP chief Lt. Gen. Camilo Cascolan said summonses have been served against the nine policemen, who are currently detained at the Headquarters Supporter Service in Camp Crame and directly involved in the soldiers’ killing.
Armed Forces spokesman Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said the military “takes due notice and appreciates” the PNP’s filing of administrative charges against its 12 personnel.
“We are one with the families of our slain soldiers in their pursuit for the filing criminal cases against the said members of Jolo police,” he said.
Arevalo the military establishment “will not stop until justice is served with dispatch for the victims of that unfortunate incident.” “Justice should neither be delayed nor denied to our soldiers who were killed while in the actual performance of their solemn duty to protect our people and secure our country from terrorists,” he said.
The nine policemen directly involved in the June 29 incident are Senior MSgt. Abdelzhimar Pajiri; MSgt. Hanie Badirri; SSgts. Iskandar Susulan, Ernisar Sappal and Almudzrin Hadjaruddin; Cpl. Sulki Andaki; and Patrolmen Muhammad Nur Pasani, Rajiv Putalan and Alkajal Mandangan. The NBI has filed charges of murder and planting of evidence before the Department of Justice against the nine for the killing of Army intelligence personnel Maj. Marvin Indammog, Capt. Irwin Managuelod, Sgt. Jaime Velasco, and Cpl. Abdal Asula.
Also charged by the PNP administratively were Col. Michael Bawayan Jr., Sulu provincial police director; Lt. Col. Walter Annayo, former Jolo police chief; and, Capt. Ariel Corcino, chief of the Provincial Drug Enforcement Group. Cascolan said Bawayan, Annayo and Corcino were charged administratively for gross neglect of duty under the doctrine of command responsibility.
The three officers were also criminally charged by the NBI before the Department of Justice for neglect of duty. Cascolan said the nine policemen and their superiors will face summary hearing officers “who will determine probable cause to take further administrative action against them.”
“I am giving the Internal Affairs Service the freehand in exercising its mandate to determine the administrative liability of these personnel and to impose the appropriate penalty as prescribed under PNP regulations,” said Cascolan.
Cascolan said Bawayan, Annayo and Corcino have been told to proceed to Camp Crame to face the administrative charges against them. “I believe they are already en route to Camp Crame,” he said. The four Army intelligence personnel, all assigned with the 9th Intelligence Security Unit, were shot dead by nine policemen near the Jolo police station on June 29 in Jolo.
The four, who were aboard a sports utility vehicle, were intercepted by the policemen at a checkpoint while the Army soldiers were tracking bombers from the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group. Since they were in civilian clothes and could not immediately present identification cards, they were told to proceed to the police station. The soldiers were fired at by the police men shortly after they parked about 50 meters from the police station.
