Report on friendly fire that killed 10 soldiers in Marawi given to AFP chief of staff

June 14, 2017

The result of the fact-finding conducted by the board of inquiry on the friendly fire that killed 10 soldiers in Marawi City was submitted to the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) last Friday, said  Major Gen. Rafael Valencia, AFP Inspector General. Valencia did not reveal the outcome of the investigation as this may have an implication on the ongoing operation against the Maute group in Marawi City. “There is an information there that has an implication on the on-going operation in Marawi. Actually one of the recommendation is to hold for the meantime the disclosure while the combat operations there is not yet finished,” he said. “We cannot discuss the Board of Inquiry report right now because it has an implication on the ongoing operation so we don’t want to endanger the lives of our troops. Atually that is also my recommendation to the chief of staff,” he added. Col. Edgard Arevalo, AFP public affairs chief said the result of the inquiry that was submitted to AFP Chief General Eduardo Ano will be forwarded to the major services involved in the incident for further investigation. “The facts that they have determined from the interviews was forwarded to our chief of staff and then our chief of staff directed that the result of the facts will be forwarded to major services because they are the force providers. They provide the aircraft, pilot, maintenance, they provide the army personnel,” he said. “It’s up to the major services to determine the adjustments needed to do with the techniques, tactics and procedure, if there is any mistake on their personnel they will be the one to determine the extent of the liability and then of there are difference on equipment, they are also responsible on giving feedback to the supplier, that’s essentially the point,” he added. When asked if someone will be facing charges, Arevalo said “that will be the subject of the further investigation of the major services.” “As I’ve been saying earlier to accurately pinpoint that it is pilot error, it is the Air Force who can only say that, not the board itself but based from the facts that it gather and given to the major services that they can say if its pilot error, equipment failure or aircraft problem,” he said. (Robina Asido/DMS)