ARMED Forces chief Gen. Gilbert Gapay yesterday asked the National Bureau of Investigation to file charges against nine Sulu policemen who killed four Army intelligence operatives last June.
Gapay appeared before a hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, before which an NBI official testified that one of those shot dead, Maj. Marvin Indamog, was unarmed, supporting Gapay’s earlier statement that the incident was a “rubout” and not a shootout as claimed by the police.
“We urge the immediate filing of charges. We have been waiting for two months already.
Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Gapay who was still Army chief when the incident occurred on June 29.
Gapay said he find the case to be “very unique” because the AFP and the PNP have been cooperating for years.
He also hit the PNP for its apparent attempt to cover up the incident after the police came out with its spot report saying that the nine policemen just acted in self-defense when it was clear that the soldier were killed in cold blood.
“When we read the spot report we already saw the fantastic, unbelievable facts. We find that unbelievable… Based on NBI report, there was no provocation or no unlawful aggression… There was a deliberate act, there was intent to kill, lahat ng tama nasa likod eh kaya nga we find it very unique. Pag basa ng report may angle kaagad ng self-defense (When we read the report the angle of self-defense was already there. There was no provocation we find the initial report fabricated),” Gapay said.
PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa, who also present in the Senate hearing, said the nine cops are still under restrictive custody in Camp Crame since under the law, the PNP cannot order their suspension or immediate dismissal form service without a decision on the administrative cases filed against them.
Alfegar Triambulo, PNP internal affairs service chief, said they have already Zulikha Degamo of the NBI’s death investigation division said based on testimonies of witness, Indamog, team leader of the Army’s intelligence service unit, was unarmed when shot by policemen in Jolo, Sulu.
The three other slain soldiers were Capt. Irwin Managuelod, Sgt. Jaime Velasco, and Cpl. Abdal Asula, all members of the Army’s 9th intelligence service unit.
Degamo said Indamog alighted from their gray Mitsubishi Montero with his hands raised and lifted his shirt apparently to show that he has no concealed weapon but was instead fired upon by the cops which led to the shooting.
She said the cops were “strategically positioned” as they approached the parked vehicle of the Army intelligence operatives.
But Police Senior Master Sgt. Abdelzhimar Padjiri and Patrolman Alkajal Mandangan, two of the nine Sulu policemen involved in the incident, said Indamog was carrying an assault rifle when he alighted from the vehicle.
Padjiri said he approached the Montero van and knocked on its window to talk to its passengers. He said it took a while before Indamog opened the window. He said he took a step back as Indamog suddenly door.
Padjiri said he was not sure who fired the first shot.
Mandangan admitted he was among those who shot Indamog upon seeing that the Army officer was carrying a gun.
Mandangan said he fired his gun out of instinct as he saw Indamog brandishing a firearm, which reminded him of a similar incident in past when they accosted armed men that led to killing of his commanding officer and to him being also shot.
The cops also denied that they planted guns on the Army intelligence operatives.
Last June 29, six members of the Jolo Municipal Station and three from the Sulu provincial drug enforcement unit, accosted the occupants of a gray Mitsubishi Montero, who later introduced themselves as Army intelligence operatives.
The cops instructed the soldiers to proceed to the police station for verification but the soldiers did not heed the order and instead drove farther away, which prompted the cops to chase them until the Montero stopped a few meters away from the police station.
At that point, the cops shot all four occupants of the vehicle.
To prevent a whitewash, the PNP and AFP leaderships asked the NBI to lead the investigation, which in turn recommended the filing of fur counts of murder and planting of evidence against the nine cops.
The cops were identified as Senior Master Sgt. Abdelzhimar Padjiri, Master Sgt. Hanie Baddiri, Staff Sgt. Iskandar Susulan, Staf Sgt. Ernisar Sappal, Cpl. Sulki Andaki, and Pat.
Moh Nur Pasani, all of the Jolo MPS; and Staf Sgt. Ambudzrin Hadjaruddin, Pat. Ajkajal Mandangan, and Pat. Rajiv Putalan, of the Sulu PDEU (provincial drug enforcement unit).
