PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Friday, June 28, assumed full responsibility for the deadly misencounter in Samar that left six policemen dead and nine others wounded.
In a speech delivered in Tacloban, Leyte, Duterte took the "ultimate blame" for the "unfortunate" misencounter between members of Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
"I'd like to tell you that the ultimate blame, fault is on me being the Commander-in-Chief," Duterte said.
Prior to his speech, Duterte visited the wake of the slain cops who died in a misencounter with soldiers in Sta. Rita, Samar on June 25.
Duterte went to police regional headquarters at Camp Ruperto Kangleon in Palo, Leyte to view the remains of the slain police commandos and extend sympathies to their grieving families.
The six police officers killed were Police Officers 1 Wyndell Noromor, Edwin Ebrado, Phil Rey Mendigo, Julius Suarez, Rowell Reyes, and Julie Escalo.
They were killed when troopers from the AFP's 87th Infantry Battalion mistakenly ambushed the PNP's 1st Platoon, 805th Company, Regional Monile Force Battalion 8.
For now, the President said he had told the police and the military to "forget the hurts" and let the investigation proceed to find out the truth.
"Sabi ko sa kanila, kalimutan nalang ninyo, total hindi naman sinasadya. You know the Murphy's Law operates the way it is. If things can go wrong, it will go wrong," he added.
(I told them to forget that [misencounter] since it was unintentional. You know the Murphy's Law operates the way it is. If things can go wrong, it will go wrong.)
"And so I said that, kayong mga pulis, ako 'yung pinaka-commander ninyo, pati kayong mga Army, ako rin. And so we must just say that it's all my fault. But since you are all my soldiers, let us forget the hurts, allow the investigation to go on and let us see what develops in the future," he added.
(To the police and the army, I am your Commander-in-Chief. And so we must just say that it's all my fault. But since you are all my soldiers, let us forget the hurts, allow the investigation to go on and let us see what develops in the future.)