Six cops dead in alleged misencounter with Army in Samar

June 25, 2018

Six policemen died and nine were wounded in a 20-minute firefight allegedly with Army soldiers Monday in Sta. Rita, Samar.

Killed were Po1 Wyndell Nodromor, PO1 Edwin Ebrado, PO1 Phil Rep Mendigo, Po1 Julius Suarez, PO1 Rowell Reyes and PO1 Julie Escalo, a police report said. They belonged to Regional Mobile Force Battalion 8.

Initial report said the policemen were conducting patrols and headed towards Sitio Canunay, Barangay Rosa in Sta Rosa when they "were waylaid with volume of fire by undetermined number of armed men which prompted the former to defend themselves."

An initial investigation said "the opposite  side who initiated the firefight were elements of one section of Charlie Company of the 87th Infantry Battalion under the 8th Infantry Division led by 1Lt Orlando Casipit Jr composed of 16 enlisted personnel.

Chief Superintendent Mariel Magaway, Leyte region police director, confirmed that six policemen with the ranks of Police Officer 1 were killed in the incident which took place around 9:20 a.m.

They were conducting minor combat operations as part of their training when they were attacked," Magaway said in a phone interview

The firefight stopped when reinforcements from the police arrived and soldiers realized what happened.

Magaway could not say if the soldiers mistook the policemen as New People's Army rebels.

"We are conducting an investigation with our counterparts from the military to find out what exactly happened," he said. DMS