AFP Chief of Staff Catapang, in February 2014 file photo. He said Sunday the military is preparing its response to points raised against it in the BOI report on Mamasapano.
The military is crafting a written reply to all the issues related to the role of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Mamasapano, as raised in the police Board of Inquiry report, AFP chief of staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said Sunday.
Replying to reporters' questions on the sidelines of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 2015 graduation, Catapang said: “We will answer all those things whether these were allegations or shortcomings as they appeared in the BOI report. You will have our answers soon. They're still being done.”
Catapang declined to give a glimpse of what parts of the BOI report may be deemed unacceptable to the military and warranting a clarification. “Give us more time to write down our official answers,” he said.
The BOI, chaired by Police Director Benjamin Magalong, concurrent chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), released last Friday its over 120-page report on the anti-terrorist Oplan Exodus. The mission was launched in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, on January 25 to get "high-value" terrorist targets but ended with the deaths of 44 police commandos, as hundreds of Moro rebels attacked the Special Action Force units as they withdrew. There has been a lot of blame-tossing since then, with the National Police and AFP engaged at one point in a very sensitive exchange of accusations: the SAF demanded to know why military support came too little too late; but AFP faulted the PNP for alerting its local units about the mission only when the SAF teams were on the ground.
The BOI report established that President Benigno Aquino III had full knowledge of “Oplan Exodus” that was planned and supervised by resigned PNP chief Gen. Alan Purisima and executed by Police Director Geteulio Napenas, the sacked commander of SAF.
The 44 SAF troopers were killed and 16 others seriously wounded when they were attacked by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), after they had shot dead Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir but his Filipino cohort, bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman, escaped.
In the 10-hour firefight, 18 MILF rebels were also killed, along with five civilians.
The military has been been blamed in some quarters for not using all its resources to save the pinned down SAF men; and one version had the government peace panel prevailing on the military not to wade in because of the existing cease-fire agreement with MILF.
Issues tackled in Senate
AFP spokesman and Civil Relations Service (CRS) chief Brigadier Joselito “Joey” Kakilala explained Sunday most of the issues have already been explained during the Senate hearings. “We will draw lessons from the Mamasapano incident and move forward to come up with institutional policy on joint training between the PNP and the AFP to improve coordinative actions and to enhance interoperability during law enforcement operations as well as during internal security operations,” he said.
“We remain committed to the peace process to claim the peace, progress and prosperity for the people not only in Mindanao, but also for the entire nation,” Kakilala added.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/106985/afp-to-reply-to-military-related-issues-in-boi-report-on-mamasapano
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