Top police and military officials met on Monday to review the existing and come up with improved operational procedures to prevent the repeat of “misencounters” and other unnecessary incidents involving policemen and soldiers on the ground similar to what happened in Jolo last week.
Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said part of the meeting is the creation of a Board of Inquiry (BOI) composed of police and military officials which will start with revisiting the existing policies on the aspect of coordination.
“We will thresh our organizational matters in the creation of a Board of Inquiry which will be launched together with the AFP Inspector General and the Inspector General of the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the PNP,” said Gamboa.
He, however, clarified that the BOI will not look into the Jolo incident that led to the death of four soldiers at the hands of nine policemen, saying the investigation is now being done by the National Bureau of Investigation.
“We have agreed to come up with this BOI primarily to determine operational lapses and how we can improve our operational procedures both the AFP and PNP,” Gamboa added.
The official explained that further improving the operational procedure between the police and the military is essential especially in dealing with big threat groups like the communist rebels and terror groups.
Gamboa stressed that recent unfortunate incidents in the past proved to stem from poor coordination between the police and the military. (Aaron Recuenco)
