BOI submits final report on Mamasapano incident to PNP-OIC

PNP-OIC PDDG Leonardo Espina accepts from PNP Board of Inquiry Chairman PDir Benjamin Magalong the finished BOI’s report on the Mamasapano clash at 7:00 PM on Thursday, March 12 at the PNP Deputy Chief for Operations Office in Camp Crame, Quezon City. (PNP-PIO)

MANILA – Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Police Director Benjamin Magalong on Thursday submitted the final report of Board of Inquiry (BOI) to PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina.

Magalong, who also heads BOI, said he submitted the first five sets of final report, with each set consisted of 120 pages, including the attached documents.

Magalong, together with BOI members Police Director Catalino Rodriguez and Chief Supt. John Sosito, signed the final report at about 4 p.m. before they turned them over to PNP-OIC.

He also said that they would also make a powerpoint presentation of the final report to Espina.

“It will just be a simple turnover of the report to the officer-in-charge.

We are also preparing our presentation, once magbigay ng go-signal na i-report sa publiko ay ire-release po namin agad (one they give the go signal to report it to the public, we will release it right away). It is just a matter of having it approved by the officer-in-charge,” he said.

Asked if they will present to the media for the sake of the public, Magalong answered “ For me I would like to present to the media but there is protocol that should be followed”.

Magalong said the BOI would also furnish copies of the Mamasapano Report to DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, Office of the Senate, House of the Representative (HOR), Office of the Ombudsman and Department of Justice.

He also said they were still printing 60 to 70 sets of final report to provide copies of government agency’s investigating body.

He said the people accountable in the incident will be identified but they will be limited to such identification as the BOI is not prosecutorial.

”We are confident, for the sake of the truth , that (such report) will enlighten everybody,” he said.

Magalong assured that they will also give copy of the report to the families of 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) who were killed in the bloody encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan. 25, 2015.

The BOI was originally scheduled to submit the report on Feb. 26 but Espina moved it to March 6 and again to March 9 and asked for another three-day extension to submit its final report as requested by Magalong.

Magalong said the delay was due to the bulk of evidence that the BOI’s Operational Audit Team (OAT) needed to scrutinize.

The OAT conducted the investigation on the field and the gathering of statements from interviews of concerned individuals.