AFP to file administrative charges vs troops in Atimonan shootout

From the Daily Tribune (Jan 26): AFP to file administrative charges vs troops in Atimonan shootout

The military yesterday admitted the likelihood of administrative charges, including possible court martial proceedings, against the soldiers involved in the alleged Quezon province shootout that led to the killing of 13 men, including three policemen and two Philippine Air Force (PAF) personnel.

Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) spokesman Col. Generoso Bolina said the military was just awaiting the results of the probe being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) before deciding on the fate of the 15 members of the 1st Special Forces Battalion (SFB).

“The result of the investigation (by the NBI) will be the basis (for) whatever administrative charges we could file,” Bolina said. “The possibility of filing administrative charges is really big,” he admitted. Bolina said the result of the NBI probe would also be used in determining the punishment to be imposed on the soldiers through court martial.

At present, he said, all the soldiers involved in the alleged shootout at a police checkpoint on Maharlika Highway in Atimonan, Quezon were still under restriction pending the NBI investigation. “If there was really no shootout, (the soldiers) will really have to face administrative cases,” said Bolina.

Earlier, Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima ordered the filing of administrative charges against the 22 policemen involved in the incident. Thirteen men, including three policemen and two PAF personnel, were killed in the alleged shootout. On the other hand, Supt. Hansel Marantan, the supposed leader of the lawmen manning the checkpoint, was wounded.

No less than President Aquino has instructed the NBI to dig deeper into the incident after noting “not normative” instances. There were reports that the incident was actually a turf war between two operators of the illegal numbers game jueteng in Laguna and Quezon provinces. One of the 13 killed, Vic Siman, was tagged as a jueteng operator in some parts of Southern Tagalog.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/