ADMINISTRATIVE charges have been filed against the nine policemen and three police officials over the killing of four army intelligence officers in Jolo, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Camilo Cascolan said on Monday, September 7, 2020.

Cascolan said charges of grave misconduct were filed before the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS) against Senior Master Sergeant Abdelzhimar H. Padjiri, Master Sergeant Hanie U. Baddiri, Staff Sergeant Iskandar I. Susulan, Staff Sergeant Ernisar P. Sappal, Corporal Sulki M. Andaki and Patrolman Moh Nur E. Pasani who were all members of the Jolo Municipal Police Station Alert Team.

Charges of neglect of duty under the doctrine of command responsibility were filed against the direct superiors of the nine policemen, namely Staff Sergeant Almudzrin M. Hadjaruddin, Patrolmen Alkajal J. Mandangan, and Rajiv G. Putalan, who were assigned at the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) of Sulu.

These charges may result in their dismissal from the police service.

“Summons were served last week to the nine respondents who are presently under restrictive custody by the Headquarters Support Service in Camp Crame,” said Cascolan.

“I am giving the Internal Affairs Service a free hand in exercising its mandate to determine the administrative liability of these personnel and to impose the appropriate penalty as prescribed under PNP regulations. Let me assure that these personnel will be afforded due process throughout the course of the entire investigation,” he added.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) earlier filed criminal charges against the policemen for allegedly planting evidence on the slain soldiers.

The four soldiers - Major Marvin Indammog, Captain Irwin Managuelod, Sergeant Jaime Velasco and Corporal Abdal Asula - were shot and killed at a police checkpoint in Jolo on June 29.

Policemen initially claimed that it was a misencounter.

But the PNP leadership tagged it as a shooting incident after it was found that the soldiers did not fire a single shot. The incident caused tension between the police and the military in Sulu.

The Philippine Army said the slain soldiers were then in an official mission against alleged suicide bombers in Jolo, Sulu.

These suicide bombers were allegedly those behind the Jolo twin bombing on August 24 which resulted in the killing of 15 people and wounding of 74 others. (SunStar Philippines)