Appropriate disciplinary actions will be meted out against US military personnel who figured in a bar room brawl with police officers in Puerto Princesa, Palawan on April 2, according to US Marine Capt. Alex Lim, US “Balikatan” spokesperson, after a video of the incident circulated in the Internet.
“Any potential misconduct of U.S. service members is completely unacceptable and not compatible with U.S. military standards,” he added.
“Appropriate actions, which will be at their command’s discretion, will be taken at their home stations. US military personnel appreciate the opportunity to experience the local culture while training in the Philippines and are expected to abide by an established liberty policy at all times while doing so,” Lim stressed.
The US military official said their chain-of-command is not taking the incident lightly and takes all cases of misconduct seriously.
Lim admitted that American personnel are allowed to go to bars while deployed in the country for the exercise while on “liberty” or rest periods.
The names of the American service members were not immediately known but Lim said the incident “ended amicably”.
Meanwhile, Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson, said the three policemen who figured in the incident had been relieved from their posts and are now facing investigation. They could face summary dismissal proceedings.
This, even as the scuffle was said to have ended “amicably”.
Reports identified the policemen as Supt. Ariel Celino, deputy chief, Puerto Prince City Police; Senior Insp. Winner Paguia and SPO2 Jimmy Dalumpines.
Based on the video, the brawl started after one of the Americans approached and tapped the mouth of the beer bottle of one of the policemen who was then dozing off in one of the tables in the bar.
A spat ensued until one of the policemen took a gun from a bag and pointed it at the Americans, prompting one of the latter to disarm the armed policeman. Priam F. Nepomuceno/Philippine News Agency
The original headline of this story referred to the American servicemen mentioned in the report as US soldiers. They are not members of the US Army and no US soldier was involved in the incident. We apologize for the error.
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