The leading role played by the US government in the firefight at Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 25 has become clearer in the course of time.
An unnamed officer of the PNP Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) has admitted that the US government provided the needed logistics, including the money that was paid to members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who served as guides to enable the PNP-SAF commandos to close in on their targets Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Abdul Basit Usman, who have combined bounties on their heads worth $9 million from the US State Department. It was also the US that provided the funds and intelligence for the operation to neutralize Marwan.
La Vista del Mar Beach Resort. US forces chose and provided special training to the 84th SAF Company which served as the assault force in the operation against Marwan. The other SAF units were to serve as support forces, including the 55th SAF Company which was wiped out in Mamasapano.
The US likewise provided a training facility for the 84th SAF Company at the La Vista del Mar Beach Resort in Barangay Upper Calarian in Zamboanga City. The resort is owned by the family of Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat.
Wikileaks reports. The SAF officer’s statements jibe with the confidential transmissions from the US Embassy to Washington, D.C from 2005 to 2010 concerning the US’ major role in the counter-terrorism campaign in the Philippines. According to the documents made available through Wikileaks, it is the US government that plans covert operations undertaken by the military, police and other Philippine security forces.
In a confidential message coded “09MANILA2271,” the US Embassy in Manila endorsed approval for a $34.1 million budget from the US government for various pieces of equipment to be used in the counter-terrorism campaign in 2010.
Nonetheless, the US Embassy has remained tight-lipped on this burning issue, which obviously tramples on Philippine sovereignty and independence. Even its puppets in the Philippines are scrambling to cover up the US’ direct role in military operations in the Philippines. In fact, hearings at the Lower House of Congress have been suspended after progressive legislators delved into the US and Aquino’s accountability for the Mamasapano clash. Up to now, PNP Dir. Getulio Napeñas, the sacked SAF commander, persists in claiming that the US role in Mamasapano was confined to the conduct of a medical mission to evacuate SAF casualties.
The SAF officer-informant said that an American known as “Allan Konz” was the actual leader of the operation. At the time of the fighting in Mamasapano, Konz was at the 43rd SAF Company command post in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao with PNP-SAF Director Napeñas. It was Konz who dictated the operation’s every move. Also with Konz at the command post were eight civilian-clad American soldiers.
AFP officers have likewise disclosed that it was a US drone that pinpointed the location of the 84th SAF Company. A video of the Mamasapano clash viewed on the morning of January 25 by Aquino and selected US officers inside the US Drone Facility at Edwin Andrews Airbase in Zamboanga City was also taken by the drone.
US decision. From the beginning, the US-designed operation called for a limited role for the AFP. Whatever coordination there was, was confined to intelligence work. Napeñas was therefore lying when he said at the Congressional hearing that it was he who decided not to coordinate with the military or the MILF because he did not trust them. In fact, he was concealing the role played by the US in the operation.
The plan, as drafted, provided for reinforcements for the SAF should contingencies arise. This would be coming from the 300 other SAF forces who were part of the mission, the mechanized unit of the Philippine Army which was located a mere three kilometers from Mamasapano and artillery support. During the actual fighting,
however, the US shifted gear and gave orders to the reinforcement units to stand down.
Meanwhile, local residents interviewed during a fact-finding mission led by Gabriela Women’s Party and Suara Bangsamoro on February 8-11 said a week prior to the fighting, they saw a drone (which they called a “small airplane”) circling four villages of Mamasapano. It flickered in the dark and flew at a low altitude—almost hovering above rooftops. The drone flew more frequently over Barangay Tukanalipao on the night of January 24.
During the actual operation on January 25, forty-four SAF troopers were killed—nine from the 84th Company and 35 from the 55th Company. Also among those killed were the two MILF members who served as guides and 13 paramilitary elements. The MILF leadership claimed to have lost 18 fighters. Seven civilians were also killed.
A national newspaper reported on February 5 that surviving SAF elements were ordered to extricate the American troops first from the scene of the fighting. Nonetheless, Tukanalipao residents reported helping carry the body of a slain American soldier to a green USAID helicopter that landed in the area immediately after the gunbattle.
[Ang Bayan is the official news organ of the Communist
Party of the Philippines
http://www.philippinerevolution.net/publications/ang_bayan/20150221/the-us-leading-role-in-the-mamasapano-gunbattle
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