MANILA, Philippines - A Cotabato archbishop on Thursday called for sobriety amid the anger and grief of the families of the slain Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) members who were killed during the Maguindanao clash with Muslim extremists last week.
Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo also urged both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panel members to continue to pursue the peace process despite the incident.
"The demand of wisdom is for us to hold back the natural response of revenge and desire to break off the peace process. May our God of love welcome our gallant policemen to our heavenly home, strengthen and comfort their families," Cardinal Quevedo told Church-run Radyo Veritas.
During the encounter at Mamasapano, Maguindanao with Muslim militiamen, 44 SAF members were killed while 11 others wounded.
Authorities said that the SAF men were about to serve arrest warrants against international terrorist , Marwan, and another Filipino accomplice when the firefight started Sunday early dawn.
Quevedo also called on a impartial investigation into the incident, how the serving of the warrants became into a bloody gun battle.
"Here in Rome, I grieve most deeply with the families of the valiant PNP-SAF, fallen in battle for the cause of justice. The circumstances and causes of this horrendous tragedy are still to be clearly unraveled. The demand of justice is for impartial investigation into how such police operation could result into unimaginable tragedy," the cardinal said.