President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of the Office of the President
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has ordered the formation of joint military and police task force to pursue the remaining suspects to the killings of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo and eight others, Defense chief Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Friday.
“The president issued verbal orders to create a joint task force composed of two brigades and six battalions to step up to the joint AFP-PNP operations and carry out the president’s directive and search warrant,” Galvez said during a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
Galvez said the formation of task force is done to “supress the criminal activities and impunity in the entire island of Negros, to give justice to the families and loved ones of those who were slain in the assassination of Governor Roel Degamo, and restore normalcy and confidence of our people in the area.”
In addition, Galvez said the AFP deployed a 50-man specially-trained strong light reaction company.
“The light reaction company was involved in the Battle of Marawi from the deployment of the Armed Forces of the Philippines [and they will be deployed] to monitor the remaining suspects,” he said.
AFP chief Gen. Andres Centino said this task force shall be composed of AFP units based in the area and will be augmented by troops from outside of Negros.
Degamo and eight provincial staff and constituents were killed while 16 others, including three provincial officials, were wounded in a gun attack on the governor’s residence in Pamplona town.
Four of the suspected gunmen who were later arrested were found to be former soldiers.