The 3rd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army believes that the action of the CAFGU Active Auxiliary (CAA) member accused of killing a Moises Padilla resident and his father was an act of self-defense.
Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, 3ID Commander, said in a statement Friday that while they believe that the actions of CAA Donan Sucia were to preserve his own life, “we submit our position to the wisdom of the court in this regard”.
Sucia was involved in a shooting incident while responding to a request to pacify certain personalities who ran amok in Barangay Montilla, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental, on January 2.
It resulted to the death of John Albert Templatura and his father Godofredo, and left two others injured.
The 3ID’s said that on January 3, the Negros Occidental Prosecutor’s Office downgraded the case against Sucia from murder to homicide.
The incident will allow them to look closely at the training and capability of our CAA Detachments to respond to similar situations and to revisit their Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) and Rules of Engagement (ROE) to prevent the occurrence of the same incident in the future, Sison said.
“I am saddened by the fact that lives were lost and others left wounded as our security forces responded to a request for assistance,” he said, adding “For certain, they had no intentions to take life but to maintain peace and order”.*