MANILA, (PNA) –Should the Senate required the military to appear before it and explain what really happened on the 20-day Zamboanga City standoff, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is more than willing to comply with the order.
“If ordered by higher government officials, then we will comply with the order (to appear before the Senate),” AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said on Thursday.
He emphasized that the military fully respects civilian rule supremacy.
Zagala also added that the actions of the military in the crisis had been very transparent since the start of the conflict.
Zagala made this statement in the wake of the Zamboanga City Council’s decision to file a resolution requesting the Senate to investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, the AFP public affairs office also stated that more and more bodies of MNLF members, firearms, and ordnance are being recovered during the ongoing clearing operations.
But he declined to give figures on the new bodies retrieved as the AFP is still reconciling the number of MNLF fighters killed and recovered during the height of the fighting.