COTABATO CITY -- It took the Army's 6th Infantry Division exactly a week to mend fences with the local media here, following Camp Aguinaldo's urgent directive to do so.

In a meeting with key members of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas on Friday, 6th ID Camp Commander Colonel John Oswald Buco, accompanied by division spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando, conveyed his apology with attached justification to allegations that he harassed dxMS radio senior reporter Loreto "Loloy" Rosario while trying to cover the fore that hit the camp's ammunition storage facility last October 31.

"I'm sorry for what had happened," Buco told reporters, adding that he was just performing his role as camp commander to ensure safety of civilians.

"We were on heightened alert when the incident happened," said the Cebu-native officer who thought the camp was under siege by Moro rebels as sporadic explosions likened to a fireworks display roused residents nearby.

Despite Rosario's early coordination with the military to cover the blaze and proper identification, his ID card and two mobile phones were confiscated upon orders of Buco who kept on berating him.

The controversy worsened when the 6th ID under Major General Raymundo Ferrer appeared to have ignored the Buco-Rosario row without issuing an official statement on the matter.

A few days later, death threats were received by Rosario from unknown texters and the military had not initiated a reconciliatory dialogue.

A "peace dialogue" with members of media came only came on November 7.

"We were instructed by higher headquarters to mediate and resolve the misunderstanding with dispatch and restore the good media-Philippine Army relationship in Mindanao," Ando told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of the INQUIRER.net.

Rosario, for his part, had extended a reconciliatory hand, saying he, like Buco, was just performing his duty "to keep the public informed of what was going on" as some residents in Barangay (village) Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat were jittery of the fire and series of explosions inside the camp.

Ando said the fire was "accidental" and not linked to sabotage.

He also downplayed the possibility of arson at a time when the 6th ID was under scrutiny by the Commission on Audit.

"Ammunition and explosives are exempt from audit," he told reporters.

The Bureau of Fire Protection has ruled out arson, saying the fire was caused by rodents and lack of proper ventilation.