NATIONAL Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana vowed that they will employ "full force" of the law and appropriate sanction will be meted against government troops assigned in the warzone in Marawi City who will be proven guilty for looting, adding that they will not tolerate such action in the armed forces.
In an interview with Lorenzana upon his arrival on Tuesday from Japan as part of the Philippine official delegation, he said that they will look into the complaints of alleged looting done by some soldiers in abandoned houses in Marawi City.
"We are going to apply to them the full force of the law. Hindi pwede yong ikaw na yong law enforcement agent ka diyan, ikaw yong inaasahan na mag protekta sa kanila, parang bantay-salakay ba. Hindi maganda yon," Lorenzana said.
He said that they did not believe the reports before since it was at the height of the war but he promised before that they will investigate it and now they caught the looters.
"We are going to punish them. They will be punished accordingly," he vowed.
However, he said that they will also conduct further investigation on the so called "overkill" houses, as he cited that upon talking with the troops on the ground, they said that those houses were already destroyed when they reached there.
Lorenzana added that they are willing to give compensation if proven that the troops were behind in damaging the houses and could not directly pinpoint who destroyed it.
"Another investigation yan kung talagang ginawa yan ng sundalo and hindi natin ma-pinpoint then maybe we have to make some reparations to the owners of the houses," he said.
He further said that they welcome any complaint of house owners if they will file charges against them.
Meanwhile, he said that they are also open and willing to submit themselves to congressional investigation on the alleged looting.