The allegations that Cpl. Abdal Asula, one of the four Army men killed by police officers in Jolo on June 29, was into illegal drugs were meant to draw attention away from the senseless killings, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said on Thursday.
“That is obviously a desperate attempt by the assailants to besmirch the reputation of Corporal Asula to justify or to divert attention away from the senseless killing of the soldiers,” Armed Forces spokesman Major Gen. Edgard Arevalo said in a statement.
He made his statement even as Malacañang on Thursday assured the Armed Forces that the four soldiers slain in the shooting incident in Jolo two months ago would receive justice.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque gave his assurance to Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay and asked the AFP chief to let the court decide on the case.
“The President has made his promise that justice will be served in this case,” Roque said.
Arevalo issued his statement after Brig. Gen. Manuel Abu, head of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, in a Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee hearing, claimed Wednesday that Asula had links with an illegal drugs syndicate.
“The police earlier invoked self-defense even if the investigation by the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] and eye-witness accounts clearly showed there was no unlawful aggression or sufficient provocation to warrant the shooting. And now we have the vilification of one of the slain soldiers,” Arevalo said.
He said the police were coming up with all sorts of falsities to attempt to avoid criminal, civil and administrative responsibilities for the murder of the four soldiers.
Killed in the June 29 incident in Jolo were Major Marvin A. Indammog, 39; Capt. Irwin B. Managuelod, 33; Sgt. Jaime M. Velasco, 38, and Asula, 33.
The four soldiers were conducting intelligence and monitoring operations against two suspected suicide bombers when gunned down by nine Jolo-detailed police officers.
Meanwhile, Philippine Army commander Cirilito Sobejana said the Army’s ranks were always being cleared of individuals with illegal drug links, adding that those found with such connections were immediately investigated and discharged from the service if found guilty.
“Once you are involved in drugs, you will be discharged,” Sobejana said.
He said when he was head of the Western Mindanao Command, he had these accusations against Asula investigated, but nothing came of it.