THE Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) chief, Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga, clarified on Monday that the soldiers who participated in a predawn raid against a suspected Abu Sayyaf lair in Maimbung, Sulu, early last week were not suspended pending results of the investigation into the incident that resulted in the death of seven civilians caught in the crossfire.

Allaga said the Armed Forces did not suspend the 50 soldiers who were involved in the raid.

He said he may have been misunderstood when he ordered the commanders of the soldiers who participated in the raid to return to barracks while the investigation is being conducted.

“I did not order the soldiers’ suspension. The soldiers were only given orders to report to barracks so that investigators may get their formal statements regarding the operations on Monday last week,” Allaga said.

The Armed Forces earlier said that two soldiers were killed, along with three members of the Abu Sayyaf during the “legitimate strike operations.”

The Wesmincom spokesman, Maj. Eugene Batara, however, did not say that there were civilians killed in the crossfire.

On Saturday Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro flew to Jolo, Sulu, to visit the troops and the relatives of the civilian victims where he assured them of an impartial investigation.

“First and foremost, we have to get to the bottom of what really happened during the raid, we really have to establish that because there are deaths on both sides,” Teodoro said during his visit.

Teodoro’s office is expected to come up with results of the investigation in two weeks. He also assured the families of the victims that they would receive financial aid.

In his talks with the soldiers, Teodoro assured that the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf would go on despite the tragic incident.

Bishop: Fruitless to ask Church to unseat President Arroyo

DESPITE people’s growing disappointment over the administration, it would be fruitless to ask the Roman Catholic Church to “unseat” the President because the bishops are not the “sovereign Filipino people,” said the former head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Malacañang on Monday expressed confidence that the administration will weather the exposé of Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. on alleged irregularities in the botched national broadband network (NBN) deal with a Chinese company, saying it has survived “more serious” challenges in the past.

TAGUM CITY—A counterinsurgency summit here has proposed economic measures heavily accented with anticorruption and law-enforcement moves, including a proposal compelling local governments to submit development plans before they can receive their internal-revenue allotments (IRA).

THE Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) chief, Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga, clarified on Monday that the soldiers who participated in a predawn raid against a suspected Abu Sayyaf lair in Maimbung, Sulu, early last week were not suspended pending results of the investigation into the incident that resulted in the death of seven civilians caught in the crossfire.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Committees on Cease-fire and Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) have jointly dismissed the circulating rumors that the peace process has collapsed owing to the perceived impasse on the peace talks.

FOLLOWING the complaints raised by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the garbage-collection contractors, Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo was suspended by the Rizal Provincial Government for 60 days.