Duterte wants PNP, AFP to move on after Samar misencounter
President Rodrigo Duterte wants the police and military to move on after the misencounter in Samar, resulting in the death of six policemen.
The Samar misencounter was also discussed during the command conference, which Duterte presided over in Malacanang on Wednesday night, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press briefing on Thursday.
"The president is really encouraging both the PNP (Philippine National Police) and the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to move on from this incident, to learn from this experience," he said.
Relatives of the slain PNP personnel reportedly got hurt when Duterte seemed not to take any action anymore on what happened against the soldiers who killed the policemen.
Duterte earlier said he was taking the blame, being the commander-in-chief, for the unfortunate incident.
Roque said Duterte wants the investigation to continue to avoid a similar incident from happening.
He noted the preliminary finding of the Board of Inquiry was that although there was coordination between the PNP and the AFP, "it was held at such low levels, that perhaps next time, the coordination should not be left to low-ranking officials and should actually be conducted at the highest level."
The misencounter took place in Barangay San Roque, Sta. Rita town on June 25 when the Army soldiers mistook the police as members of the communist New People's Army. Celerina Monte/DMS
