NCRCOM spokesman Capt. Carlo Ferrer said that the Board of Inquiry (BoI), which was created immediately after the Makati City standoff, identified a lapse in security when Magdalo soldiers were able to sneak in firearms at the Makati City Hall despite heavy security.

Citing initial result of the BoI investigation, Ferrer said that as soon as the firearms were discovered, military escorts were unable to do something about the situation since some of the Magdalo soldiers were already pointing guns at them.

"Definitely, those who made the lapses would be punished. The punishment would be a reprimand to dismissal in service. But since the inquiry is still ongoing, this is still being deliberated by the board," Ferrer said.

Ferrer said that the BoI, led by NCRCOM chief Maj. Gen. Fernando Mesa, has also looked into the reasons why military escorts failed to prevent the group of Trillanes from going outside the premises of the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) and let them march along Ayala Ave. to the Manila Peninsula Hotel.

He said that the military security allowed Trillanes and several Magdalo soldiers to go outside the premises of the Makati RTC to prevent collateral damage.

"We are looking into that but we are also considering the presence of a lot of civilians and media there, who could have gotten hurt if the military personnel resisted the group of Trillanes," he said.

Ferrer defended the possible involvement of the escorts, saying that they did not enter the hotel upon their arrival at the Manila Peninsula Hotel.

The conduct of the inquiry on the Nov. 29 incident was ordered to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the NCRCOM in the execution of assault and maintaining security during hearings.

"The very purpose of this inquiry to identify on how the NCRCOM can improve in some aspects, where we saw there are lapses," AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said.