The area commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday ordered a full investigation on a "mistake encounter" inside a Surigao bus where three policemen and two Army soldiers were killed in Barangay Timamana, Tubod town, Surigao del Norte, last Wednesday noon, a regional Army spokesman said.
Spokesman Lt. Col. Francisco I. Simbajon said Maj. Gen. Cardozo M. Luna, area command chief of the Army’s Northern, Northeastern, and Southern Mindanao Fourth Infantry (Diamond) Division, also ordered Col. Ricardo David, commanding officer of the Caraga region’s 402nd Infantry (Stingers) Brigade in Awa, New Leyte, and Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, to direct Lt. Col. Isidro Purizima, commanding officer of the Army’s 30th Infantry Battalion, to supervise the investigation and submit a report to AFP general headquarters at the earliest possible time.
The Caraga region Army Brigade commander was asked to coordinate with the investigation team of the Police Regional Office 13 (PRO 13), Simbajon said.
Sketchy reports reaching the operations center of the 4th ID’s advance command post in Bancasi said the mistake encounter occurred along the national highway in Barangay Timamana.
The reports said three policemen, identified as Police Officer 2 Reoul B. Bongoito, Police Officer 1 Joel M. Alfanta, and Police Officer Emmanuel B. Casino, all members of the 142nd Regional Mobile Company in Kilometer 90, Surigao del Sur, boarded a "Bachelor" passenger bus in Bad-as, Placer town.
Soldiers of the 20th IB, identified as Private First Class Romel T. Ananas and Private First Class Roderick Cacas, both assigned to Iloilo province in the Visayas, who were believed set to spend Christmas with their families in the Caraga region, boarded the same passenger bus.
Initial investigation showed that the two Army soldiers boarded the bus at the Surigao City terminal and seated themselves in the rear, while the three policemen rode that same bus in Bad-as area. They also occupied the other rear seats.
However, upon reaching Barangay Timamana, Tubod town, gunfire broke out, killing the three policemen and the two soldiers, who were all in civilian clothes. The other bus passengers fled in panic, probers were told.
Initial theory showed that the victims, with their guns tucked in their waists and covered by their shirts, mistook each other for rebels. No other bus passenger was hit during the gunbattle.
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