Inquiries were launched after TV footage contradicted...

Inquiries were launched after TV footage contradicted claims that government forces acted in self-defence in a jungle shootout involving 16 members of a religious cult. The slaughter took place in a remote southern province of Bukidnon and might have been dismissed as just another firefight between armed radicals and government forces if not for the footage taken by the cameraman of a local news station. The film showed men armed only with short swords and knives being gunned down by policemen and soldiers wielding M-14 and M-16 assault rifles. "If you look at the footage, apparently there was an overkill," said Aurora Recina, chairwoman of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), which was investigating the killings. The Ombudsman, the Senate, and the Office of the President also initiated their own inquiries. "It appeared that the arresting team indiscriminately fired their guns upon the cult members, including those who were already running away from them," said Ombudsman Aniano Desierto. Senators Rodolfo Biazon and Robert Barbers said the footage showed excessive force was used by the government troops. "It was mass murder," said Marie Hila-Enriquez, secretary-general of the civil rights group Karapatan. National Police Chief General Panfilo Lacson Lacson hinted that murder charges might be filed against the government agents.