Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday hinted on filing murder charges against the policemen involved in the shooting incident in Jolo, Sulu that led to the killing of four Army soldiers.
According to Año, authorities have been receiving reports claiming that the shooting incident was related to an ongoing family feud and drug trade activities.
“It may be related to grudges or to drugs, so kasama din dyan sa na-receive natin at tinitingnan din natin ‘yung mga ganyang angulo pero sabi ko na mas priority muna ‘yung evidnce,” Año said in an interview on CNN-Philippines.
“After all, whatever happens it’s still murder e. Ano man ‘yung motive, ano man ‘yung background, these suspects will be charged and have to answer for [a] murder case,” Año said.
Aside from this, Año also noted some forensic observations that “constitute murder,” including the number of gunshot wounds on the slain soldiers.
“Major (Marvin) Indammog had a total of nine gunshot wounds, eight at the back so ‘yun ‘yung pinaka-revealing dun na why do you have to shoot a person eight times… so that would actually constitute murder,” he said.
“Lumalabas naman dun based talaga sa initial at even from the witnesses na wala talagang shootout. It’s a shooting incident,” he added.
On June 29, four Army soldiers were gunned down by cops in Jolo while working on an intelligence operation on two suicide bombers.
From their original claim of a ‘misencounter,’ the PNP retracted its initial statement and described what transpired in Jolo as a “shooting incident.”
For Philippine Army chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay, the incident in Jolo was not a misencounter but murder.
The National Bureau Investigation is conducting its probe on the incident./Stacy Ang
