Criminal charges are being prepared against 90 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and private armed groups (PAGs) for the death of 35 of 44 members of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police (PNP-SAF), Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said in a press conference Thursday afternoon after receiving the report of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the National Prosecution Service (NPS) on what happened in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 25, 2015.
The report covers only the killing of the 35 SAF members in
the cornfields of Sitio Amilil in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano, prompting
Mindanao ’s lone Cardinal, Orlando Quevedo,
OMI, to express fears about “selective justice” and to offer suggestions to the
DOJ to ensure “selective justice” is avoided.
At least 66 persons were killed in Mamasapano – 44 from the
SAF, 17 from the MILF and five civilians – when 390 SAF personnel were deployed
to arrest Zulkifli bin hir alias Marwan, a Malaysian terrorist early dawn of
January 25, without coordinating with the ceasefire mechanisms of the
government peace panel and the MILF, and without coordinating as well with the
local and regional Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the
Philippines.
De Lima said she will review the report over the weekend and
will likely make it public by Monday, April 20, the same day the 75-member
House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (AHCBBL)
resumes deliberations on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the law that would
govern the future Bangsamoro parliamentary government by June 30, 2016, based
on the roadmap of the government and the MILF.
“Pinaka-major witness”
She told a press conference aired live by ANC (ABS-CBN News
Channel) that they have witnesses “at merong isang pinaka-major eyewitness”
whom they identified in the report through an assigned code, “Marathon ,”
who is now under the government’s Witness Protection Program.
She said “Marathon ” and
several other witnesses identified the perpetrators in the cornfields,
referring to Sitio Amilil in Barangay Tukanalipao where 35 of the 36-member
team from the 55th SAC were killed.
De Lima said the report does not include who are responsible
for the killing of the nine other members of the SAF – from the main assault
team of the 84th SAC – in Barangay Pidsandawan, where Marwan was
reported killed.
No witnesses
“Wala pa kaming nakikitang (we haven’t found) third party
eyewitness,” she said.
The report does not also include findings on the killing of
the civilians or the MILF although she said probing further is “part of the
recommendations.”
“Wala ho kasing na-access na witnesses” (we were not able to
access witnesses) who could testify on the killing of the civilians, she said.
She noted the claim of the MILF about the possible liability
of PO2 Christoper Lalan for the killing of civilians but “we made several
requests to the MILF to allow us access to possible witnesses and families pero
wala pa po silang response,” De Lima said.
Killing of civilians
The MILF’s Special Investigative Commission (SIC) Report on
the Mamasapano Incident said Lalan “killed the four MILF men when they were
asleep inside the langgal who were in no position to defend themselves.”
“He should likewise be held accountable for killing Mohammad
Ambilang, a civilian who has clearly shown no aggression as he in fact raised
his hands and made known that he is a civilian. The injury sustained by Ambilang
in the back indicated that the killing was attended by qualifying circumstances
that aggravated the actions of PO2 Lalan,” the report added.
It also said the PNP-SAF must be held accountable “for the
death of Badruddin Langalen whose dead body was found inside the position of
the 55SAC blocking force in Sitio Amilil” and the same accountability be sought
for the killing of 8-year old sarah Tot.
“We will pursue further investigation for the killing of the
nine from the 84th SAC and also the killing of the civilians and
possibly the MILF’s own casualties,” De Lima said, adding these are not
included in the report “simply because wala pa kaming na-access (we haven’t
gained access)” to third party eyewitnesses.
De Lima said the DOJ report is based on evidences found,
eyewitnesses’ accounts and from the reports of the different bodies that
investigated the Mamasapano tragedy: the PNP’s Board of Inquiry, the Senate
House Committee on Public Order and Safety, the MILF’s Special Investigative
Commission and the International Monitoring Team in the GPH-MILF peace process.
She said the previous reports are full of details but no
eyewitnesses, “not even the survivor Lalan could identify” who killed his
comrades.
“Avoid selective justice”
“Sinuwerte po ang investigation na meron kaming nahanap na
mga eyewitnesses kaya may na-identify na,” De Lima said.
She said the investigating bodies can file the complaint and
will ask the families of the SAF 44 to be among the complainants as well.
De Lima said she gave the NBI and NPS “two months from today
to pursue further investigation on those aspects na nire-recommend nila na
i-pursue – pagpatay sa 84 and civilians and MILF, including the MILF’s claim to
be Lalan’s crimes. Lalan was subjected to questioning but he basically invoked
his rights,” she said.
Cardinal Quevedo, Archbishop of Cotabato and convenor of
Friends of Peace, sent an SMS to MindaNews Thursday afternoon, offering his
suggestions to the DOJ “so as to avoid selective justice.”
“Charge those who in the darkness first shot and killed at
the bridge, who killed the hogtied civilian at close range, the other
civilians, and the MILF who were sleeping, those who led the SAF to their death
because of poor planning, no coordination, lack of it, those who deployed the
blocking force in an open non-defendable cornfield, far away from their
originally designated location, those who made reports without a sense of
urgency regarding the actual situation and thus delay immediate appropriate
response, etc etc,” Quevedo said.
http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2015/04/16/criminal-charges-to-be-filed-against-90-milfbiffpags-for-saf-35-deaths/
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