AFP to reinvestigate JSOG men’s death

MANILA, Philippines - Outgoing Armed Forces chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista convened a military panel on Friday to conduct a full-blown investigation into the death of six Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG) members at the height of heavy fighting between Marines and the Abu Sayyaf in Patikul, Sulu last month.

Bautista, who is retiring next week, made the move after the Western Mindanao Command’s Board of Inquiry (BOI) submitted its finding to him on Tuesday that the elite troopers were killed by “friendly” artillery fire, not in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf as earlier reported.

“I just received the BOI report and I’m constituting a BOI from the level of the General Headquarters to look into this report and find out what we can do and what appropriate action that we need to take,” Bautista said.
While it is not common, Bautista said “friendly fire” does happen even to the best armies in the world.

Prior to the Patikul incident on the early morning of June 19, elements of the Marine Force Recon headed by 1Lt. Roger Flores encountered a big number of Abu Sayyaf militants.

As fighting raged, Flores, the third top graduate of Philippine Military Academy Class 2009, was fatally hit while 11 of his men were wounded. 

The Marines then asked for fire support from higher headquarters. This came in the form of 105-mm artillery fire, wayward rounds of which landed on the JSOG forward base.

“The first wayward round landed a few distance from where the JSOG men were gathered. The second round came in closer, and the third round was a direct hit, killing six and wounding 11 of (the JSOG men),” a military source said.

Bautista said he would not preempt the ongoing investigation when asked if military sanctions would be imposed against those found responsible for the incident.