Police mobile, nasagasaan ang ilang militante pic.twitter.com/mg4hxJh1dU — Jerome Lantin (@JeromeLantin) October 19, 2016

MANILA - National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director

Oscar Albayalde said 40 more policemen have been relieved from their posts pending an investigation into the violent dispersal outside the United States Embassy in Manila on Wednesday.

Speaking on ANC, Albayalde said those who were involved in hitting the protesters have been relieved of duties.

"Forty of those involved in hitting the rallyists are now relieved, but not relieved from Manila Police. They were relieved from their post and are now in the district headquarters," he said.

He added that the other nine policemen were relieved from the Manila Police District and were sent to the regional headquarters.

According to Albayalde, they are investigating the incident to identify the lapses in the manner the policemen handled the situation.

"This is subject of our investigation and from there we, can establish kung ano talaga ang naging rason nitong driver na ito why he did what he, pagsagasa sa protesters," he said.

"He should have been reinforced so that could have been avoided, 'yung accident na 'yun. That's why this is being thoroughly investigated so from there, we can see the lapses of the leaders or the team leaders on the ground," Albayalde added, referring to PO3 Franklin Kho, who was caught on video running over protesters using a police car.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald dela Rosa said he has instructed Albayalde to place all officers involved in the police operation under administrative relief "to ensure utmost impartiality of the investigation."

He also expressed dismay over the violent dispersal, vowing to have the incident investigated.