Military findings on Marines’ ambush still need to be declassified

The findings and recommendations of the two military investigating panels tasked to look into the July 10 and Aug. 18 encounters between the Marines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Basilan will be released to the public once the documents are declassified.

Marine Commandant Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said that the investigation was an internal matter to determine if there were operational lapses committed by government forces and should not be made public.

Lt. Col. Jonas Lumawag, Marine spokesman, said the findings of the two inquiry boards will be released eventually after its contents have been declassified by higher military authorities.

He said, however, that the leadership of the Marines might not release the findings to the public if it is not declassified.

Lumawag said the inquiry of the two investigating panels are still ongoing and that it would be premature to release its findings.

He clarified that the initial reservation of the Marines to release to the public the results of the investigation was not because the probe was covered by Administrative Order 197 that is supposed to keep military secrets from the public.

“As of the moment, there are no clear rules on the restriction of military secrets, so the investigation is not covered by the said AO 197,” Lumawag said.

“It would be better to keep it to us.  These are lapses that we are looking into so it is unbecoming for us to tell the whole country what our mistakes were.”

He said the recommendations of the inquiry boards will be the basis of future command policy, to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.

He said the investigating panels, which were created upon the recommendation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines inspector general, are midway through their probe of the bloody encounters, where a total of 29 government troopers were killed.