ShareThisNat’l artist, teachers join resign-Pnoy campaign; BIFF men told to surrender
PASAY CITY – The government has vowed to charge those responsible for the death of the 44 PNP Special Action Force commandos in Mamasapano, Maguindanao from the Muslim rebels once they have been identified.
“Let us wait for the report of the (Philippine National Police’s) Board of Inquiry because we have yet to identify who these people are. So if charges are filed, we will go after them. It is our responsibility to enforce the law,” said Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda speaking in Malacanang.
The pledge may not be fully carried out, however, as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) stood firm on its stand to refuse to identify and surrender those who participated in the slaughter of the 44 commandos, claiming that the MILF remains a rebel organization and is still at war with the government. The MILF also claimed that the high-powered guns and personal belongings of the slain commandos were considered “war booty” in a state of war and may not be returned to the PNP as demanded.
MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the ceasefire agreement it signed with the government stated the MILF would be the one to impose disciplinary actions against its members involved in any violation in Mamasapano and just like another encounter in Barangay (village) Tukanalipao.
“We will follow what we have agreed with them in the ceasefire mechanism,” Iqbal stressed.
Iqbal said the MILF had returned 16 assorted firearms of slain Philippine National Police Special Action Force members but PNP officers said that most of the guns were mangled and could no longer be of use. There was even an allegation that government funds were used to “purchase” the guns from those who recovered them but this was denied.
The massacre triggered public clamor for President Benigno S. Aquino III to resign for missteps in the operations and allowing a suspended police chief Alan Purisima to lead the operations without informing the acting PNP chief and the Armed Forces chief.
But the President shrugged off insinuations and resignation calls, pointing to lawmakers that he felt “betrayed and lied to” by Purisima during the Mamasapano operation that cost the lives of 44 police commandos.
Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II confirmed President Aquino’s admission during a meeting in Malacanang between the President and some 25 party leaders and party whips.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines called on members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) who joined in the slaughter
of the PNP commandos to give up or face the pull force of the military. This as some 50 BIFF men were reportedly killed in an encounter in Mindanao.
Among those calling for Aquino’s resignation were his uncle, former congressman Jose Cojuangco and his wife Margarita Cojuangco, several Roman Catholic bishops and leaders of other religious groups, the National Tranformation Council and several students groups.
National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera and big teachers groups have also joined the call for the President to step down.
This developed as rumors of a coup d’etat backed by the military and the police frustrated with the Mamasapano massacre swirled in Manila as the country marked the 29th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986, a bloodless coup engineered by then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and Gen. Fidel V. Ramos and their men identified with the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM).
Aquino met with leaders of the House of Representatives last Monday and explained his role in the Mamasapano operations as he urged the lawmakers to continue pushing for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law that will create a new autonomous region in Mindanao.
Many senators and congressmen have withdrawn their support to the BBL and suspended hearings on the measure due to the massacre.
The Senate panels led by Sen. Mary Grace Poe Llamanzares, meanwhile, concluded its public hearings on the massacre after five public hearings and four executive sessions of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs jointly with the committees on peace, unification and reconciliation and finance.
During the hearings, the MILF’s sincerity in the quest for peace in Mindanao came under heavy doubt even as government peace negotiators Peace Process Secretary Teresita Deles and Miriam Coronel-Ferrer were assailed for speaking for the MILF instead and defending the MILF rebels in the encounter and not for and in the interest of the government.
Other developments:
1. Unidentified armed men burned down on Tuesday night the nipa hut of slain terrorist bomber Zulkipli Ibhir alias “Marwan” in Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao. “Yes its true that Marwan’s house was burned,” Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) 7th Brigade commander Haramin said over a local radio station.
2. Former President Fidel V. Ramos sees the need for a memorial honoring the 44 Special Action Force (SAF) police commandos killed in Mamasapano. He considered the memorial a fitting tribute to the SAF commandos’ heroism in safeguarding peace and democracy – two goals of the Philippines’ historic 1986 people power revolution during which this former Chief Executive was a key figure.
”In closing, these hearings have necessarily focused on the undeniable lapses in the conduct of operations leading to 44 deaths of the PNP-SAF. It appears that the operation was poorly planned from the start to make matters worse, there was an undeniable breakdown of both leadership and command and control in the PNP,” Poe said.
Poe said it is clear the lack of coordination among the concerned officials both from the PNP and the AFP should be addressed both by the executive and legislative branches of the government.
Senator Poe assured that the committee report will be done with utmost care and fairness to include all information specifically statements and testimonies of the resource persons.
”It is a challenge, a daunting one, just for the sheer volume of information that we have to go thru. But our goal is to be fair and our goal is to help bring about justice,” Poe said.
The Senate investigation was based on six resolutions filed to look into the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on January 25.
The 44 were part of the 392 SAF commandos who carried out Oplan Exodus aimed at capturing two-high profile terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Abdul Basit Usman in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
The SAF team was able to kill Marwan, a notorious bomb-maker and trainer, but a booby trap near his hideout exploded, igniting a whole day firefight between the SAF troopers and the combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILFF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
”In closing, these hearings have necessarily focused on the undeniable lapses in the conduct of operations leading to 44 deaths of the PNP-SAF. It appears that the operation was poorly planned from the start to make matters worse, there was an undeniable breakdown of both leadership and command and control in the PNP,” Poe said.
Poe said information about Operation Plan Exodus was deliberately withheld from Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Mar Roxas II who has supervision over PNP and the PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina.
She said the PNP has clearly did not make prior coordination with nearby units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines until both the 84th and the 55th special action companies were already heavily engaged in firefights with hostile forces.
”In the joint committee report that we are preparing, the committees will propose legislative actions necessary to avoid repetition of this incident in the future. We will be making recommendations with respect to the proposed PNP Modernization Program which is pending before Congress,” Poe said.
The Senate also discovered that many of the so-called fallen 44 were shot at close range and they were stripped of their weapons, equipment, uniform and even their personal belongings.
”They were treated with ignominy with videos of their corpses posted on the internet. Hence, of equal, if not greater importance to our nation is the impact of the Mamasapano incident on the ongoing peace process which the government is undertaking with the MILF,” Poe said.
Poe clarified that the Senate is one in the search for a lasting peace in Mindanao, saying every effort must be exerted to achieve the goal.
”However, there can be no peace without justice. A peace agreement that allows the slaughter of our law enforcers because they did not coordinate their operation with the other party is certainly flawed. It is not an excuse for the commission of a crime,” Poe said.
”For this joint representation, the joint committee report will not be credible or acceptable to our people unless we examine the Mamasapano incident in the context of the ongoing peace process with the MILF,” she added.
She also said the efforts of the government to arrive at a just, sustainable and lasting peace in Mindanao while ensuring the socio-economic, political and cultural equity must not be at the expense of our sovereignty and national integrity.
”The laws of our republic must be enforceable and enforced within our territorial boundaries without exception,” Poe said.
The resigned national police chief, Director General Alan Purisima, gave President Aquino inaccurate and false information on the Mamasapano incident that cost the lives of 44 elite troopers, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said on Monday.
In his questioning on the fourth public hearing of the Mamasapano probe by the Senate Committee on Public Order, Escudero said that, based on the testimony of Western Mindanao military Commander Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, Purisima misled the President that military support was already on the ground to back up the Special Action Force (SAF) executing a law enforcement mission to arrest a Malaysian terrorist and his Filipino cohort.
“The mechanized brigade set off at 8:20 a.m., but Purisima had sent the President a text message before that — indicating the police commandos were supported by the mechanized unit, thus implying that the the brigade was already there, as I construe the message to mean,” Escudero said, in Filipino.
Purisima asserted that he texted President Aquino at 8:17 a.m. informing the Chief Executive that mechanized, infantry and artillery were supporting SAF on the ground, as texted by Guerrero.
“The text message was at 8:17 a.m.,” Purisima told Escudero.
Six Americans apparently monitored the police operation launched on Jan. 25 in Maguindanao to capture two top terrorists wanted by the government and the United States.
The Americans were with then Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force chief Director Getulio Napeñas at his tactical command post (TCP) together with other senior SAF officers.
This is according to Superintendent Michael John Catindig Mangahis, who was in charge of monitoring the movement of at least eight SAF teams from Zamboanga City and other parts of Mindanao to Maguindanao in the evening of Jan. 24 until Jan. 25, when the operation was carried out.