Let law take its course, Palace on Sulu shooting probe

 

 MANILA --- Malacañang on Thursday, August 20 said it will let legal process take its course over the death of four military officers in the hands of nine police officers in Sulu last June.

 Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the statement after Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay expressed dismay that no charges have been filed in court against the police officers who were involved in the killing of the four soldiers.

 Roque reassured Gapay that President Rodrigo Duterte himself vowed justice for the slain soldiers and their families.

“No less than the President na po ang nangako ng katarungan (promised justice),” he said in a virtual Palace briefing. 

He said Gapay should let the law run its course

 since the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has finished their investigation and filed four counts of murder and planting of evidence against the nine cops.

“Ngayong natapos na po ang imbestigasyon ng NBI at na isampa na po ang kaso sa piskalya, hayaan lang po natin ang proseso umusad kasi po merong 90 days maximum ang mga piskal para magresolve ng kaso (Now that the NBI has finished its investigation and filed cases before the fiscal, let’s let process run its course because they have 90 days maximum to resolve cases),” he said.

Since the crime was committed in the presence of police officers, Roque also pointed out that the case had to undergo “regular preliminary investigation.”

“Hindi po ito dumaan sa  inquest kasi wala naman po ang mga piskal o police investigators nung pangyayaring yun so dapat dadaan sa regular preliminary investigation (This did not undergo inquest proceedings because there were no fiscal or police investigators in the scene,” so it should undergo through regularly preliminary investigation),” he said.

He said it is the “statutory right” of the accused for the case to undergo regular preliminary investigation.

“‘Yan naman po ay statutory right ng mgaakusadoperonangakona po no less than the President, magkakaroon po ng katarunganditosakasongito (That’s the statutory right of the accused but no less than the President vowed justice in this case),” he said.

Last July 4, Duterte appealed to the military to remain calm and not to hold a grudge against the police as “there is a more important task to do and that is to protect the people of the Philippines.”

He asked them to wait for the result of the investigation being conducted by the NBI, which will be made public “so that everybody will understand the situation.”

During a Senate hearing, Gapay alleged that there was an attempt on the part of police to cover up the misdeeds of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of four soldiers.

Gapay said he found the initial report “full of inconsistencies and really misleading,” claiming the four soldiers were murdered. (AZER PARROCHA, PNA, MINDANAO EXPOSE')