After a truck carrying law enforcement personnel crashed last weekend in Alimodian’s Barangay Ginomoy, killing four police officers and leaving another 31 injured, Police Lt. Colonel Leo Batiles, who served as Police Regional Office 6 (PR0-6) Regional Mobile Force Battalion commander, was relieved from his post on Sunday.
PRO-6 director, Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, said the outgoing commander is being looked at as part of the ongoing investigation into the matter.
“We have to investigate from battalion commander down to company commander,” he explained. “We need to conduct investigation para alam natin ang lapses kasi may nakita akong mali sa kanila (We must conduct an investigation in order to see what lapses were apparent because I see there were mistakes).”
The regional police official said there were errors in how personnel were extracted from the wreckage and in the accounting of personnel.
“Supposedly, gumamit sila ng dalawang sasakyan para hindi sila crowded sa truck kasi we have to anticipate possible incidents like e-ambush sila or may landmine or vehicular accident (Supposedly, they used vehicles so they would not be crowded in the truck since we have to anticipate possible incidents such as an ambush, landmine, or accident),” Pamuspusan stated. “They have to know the possibility that would happen while extracting the personnel.”
“Naglakad na lang sila kasi malapit lang ang kanilang headquarters (They could have just walked since they were close to their headquarters),” he added. “Ito ang mga lapses nila, hindi na-plano properly (These were their lapses, it was not planned properly).”
Batiles has since been replaced by his deputy, Police Lieutenant John Lemuel Villafranca./WDJ