PNP chief Debold Sinas has formed a Board of Inquiry to determine whether operational lapses were committed by police personnel during an attack staged last week by members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Datu Piang, Maguindanao that led to the burning of a police vehicle.
Sinas said the six-man BOI, headed by Maj. Gen. Marni Marcos, the director of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, has a specific function — “to determine what really transpired” during the attack that Sinas termed as “harassment.”
“They are also likewise directed to determine if there were intelligence reports received or if they were lapses,” Sinas said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.
Sinas said the inquiry is separate from the investigation being held by the Special Investigation Task Force Datu Piang, headed by Col. Pablo Labra, the deputy chief for operations of the Bangsamoro Autonous Region in Muslim Mindanao regional police.
Sinas said the mission of the task force is to file charges against the BIFF personalities involved in the attack.
A group of BIFF men swooped down on downtown Datu Piang on Thursday night, leading to a firefight with security forces.
The military said the BIIF men first attacked a military base in the town and withdrew after a 15-minute firefight. The military said the BIFF burned the police vehicle during their retreat.
