PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas. (Photo from PNP PIO)
MANILA, Philippines — The nine dismissed police officers who were accused in the fatal shooting of four Army intelligence officers in Jolo, Sulu in June last year were already released from the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame.
PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas said Monday that there was no warrant of arrest that was provided to further detain the nine officers.
“Sila po ay released na kasi wala pong warrant of arrest na ibinigay sa amin. We have coordinated with the DOJ [Department of Justice] at tsaka sa lahat. Hanggang ngayon wala po,” he said in a press briefing.
(They were already released because there was no warrant of arrest that was provided to us. We have coordinated with the DOJ. Up to now, there is no warrant.)
“Ayaw po namin na ma-charge po kami for arbitrary detention, at tsaka ‘yung pinirmahan ko pong dismissal ay implementable na po ‘yun so we turned them over to their relatives and lawyers,” he added.
(We don’t want to be charged for arbitrary detention, and the dismissal order I signed was already implemented so we turned them over to their relatives and lawyers.)
He said the nine officers who were previously placed under restrictive custody at Camp Crame in Quezon City were turned over to their relatives “sometime last week.”
The four slain Army officers were tracking two suicide bombers in Jolo on June 29 when their vehicle was flagged down by the police despite identifying themselves as members of the military. They were then instructed to proceed to the police station for verification of their identities.
The involved policemen said the Army officers tried to escape and pointed their weapons at them prior to the shooting. The military, however, refuted this claim, with former Army commander and now Armed Forces chief Gen. Gilbert Gapay branding the incident as murder.
The Department of Justice last Monday ordered the criminal indictment of the nine policemen. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said he had instructed Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento to immediately file the case for four counts of murder.
The nine officers will also be charged with violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, for planting a gun beside the body of one of the victims.