The Philippine Army (PA) has created a board of inquiry (BOI) to expedite the investigation into the fire that razed a military storage housing precious ammunition inside Camp Evangelista in Cagayan de Oro City on Tuesday, July 12.
Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., PA commanding general, said the BOI will conduct its own investigation but will cooperate with the probe being held by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
"We assure transparency in the investigation to prevent similar dangerous and costly incidents from happening in the future," said Brawner, who flew to Camp Evangelista to personally monitor the situation on the ground.
The Army's BOI is expected to examine the events, review allegations and investigate questions of performance of duties following the incident.
As of writing, the Army has yet to determine the cause of fire that occurred in one of the buildings inside the Ammunition Complex of the 10th Forward Service Support Unit (FSSU), Army Support Command (ASCOM) which houses about 150 rounds of various ammunition including 155mm Howitzers and small arms bullets.
The fire broke out at 12:15 a.m. and was put out at 3:10 a.m.
The incident caused panic and confusion among the civilians living beside the military camp as the loud explosions caused by the blaze roused them to sleep and prompted some of them to think that the camp was under attack.
Three civilians were hurt in the incident and the military said it will shoulder their medical expenses who were now in stable condition and recuperating at the Camp Evangelista Station Hospital.
Col. Medel Aguilar, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said the Army was tasked to immediately provide the results of their investigation to Gen. Andres Centino, AFP Chief of Staff.
“A thorough investigation is now ongoing to ascertain the cause of the incident and prevent the recurrence of a similar incident in the future.
Meanwhile, Brawner assured the public that what happened was an isolated case as he insisted that the Army's ammunition handling systems “are up to par with international standards.”
In 2014, the Army’s Explosive and Ordnance Division (EOD) unit in its headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City was hit by fire. The incident razed the unit’s quarters where various types of ammunition were stored, and caused loud explosions.