MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday evening said that he has ordered National Bureau of Investigation Director Eric Distor to probe the fatal "misencounter" shooting involving provincial police that led to the deaths of four members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines army intelligence unit in Jolo, Sulu earlier this week.
This comes after the police and military provided conflicting accounts of the incident and its preceding events.
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Duterte assured soldiers that the circumstances behind the shooting will be revealed and justice will come from the probe.
“I'm giving you my word of honor that the investigation will proceed to find out the truth unfettered, unbridled by anybody...walang makialam at 'yung totoo lang. 'Yun ang maaasahan. At kung sino man ang may kasalanan, then he has to pay for it,” the president said while addressing troops in Zamboanga City.
Duterte asked the military for understanding, saying that he does not want to see friction between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
"I'm not ready to condemn anybody except that we should give time to the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] to finish (its probe). They have started, they are at it now," he said.
Police and the military agreed to let the NBI conduct an independent probe into the incident where Jolo cops shot four intelligence personnel of the Army. — With reports from Franco Luna