By: Francis T. Wakefield and Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos
The military official leading the inquiry on the friendly fire incident that killed close to a dozen Marines in Marawi City last May 31 has submitted their findings to Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año.
Major Gen. Rafael Valencia, Armed Forces Inspector General, said the findings of the Board of Inquiry were submitted last Friday to Año.
“Nung Friday ko pinasubmit eh. Alam ko nabasa na niya iyun,” Valencia said during an interview.
Valencia said they cannot disclose the result to the media, citing serious implications to the ongoing operations to flush out extremists in Marawi City.
“Ganito kasi, may implication kasi. May information dun na may implication sa ongoing operation sa Marawi, dun sa area,” Valencia said. “So actually one of the recommendations is to hold the disclosure of the result of the inquiry as the combat operations is still ongoing,” he added.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said that they will no longer set any deadline on when Marawi will be liberated from extremists.
Padilla said the liberation of Marawi is taking some time due to the remaining civilians that the military have to save while conducting clearing operations.
“No more deadlines. We will ensure that we are able to clear it of any armed element that may still exist. And it may need some time,” Padilla said.