FBI slapped with FoIA over Mamasapano

From The Daily Tribune (Jan 31): FBI slapped with FoIA over Mamasapano

Group eyes other US agencies to reveal Exodus documents

A US-based chapter of a militant group has invoked the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) of the United States on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for it to produce documents related to its participation in the Mamasapano debacle that resulted in the death of 22 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos in January 25 last year.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-USA said it is now pressing the FBI to reveal its role in last year’s massacre of Filipinos.

The group said similar FoIA requests will be sent to the National Security Division of the Department of Justice, Department of Defense, Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, US Navy, US Army, US Air Force, and US Pacific Command regarding the Mamasapano Incident “to maximize the opportunity to unearth information about U.S. intervention in the Philippines.”

“Over 60 Filipinos died and witnesses also saw the body of an American at the covert US-designed Mamasapano operation one year ago, yet the U.S. has still not come clean about the extent of its role in the carnage. We are filing this Freedom of Information Act request with the FBI because the Filipino and American people have the right to know the full truth about this botched mission,” Bayan-USA chairman Bernadette Ellorin said.

US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg admitted last Friday that the US has a limited involvement in the botched Operation Plan (Oplan) Exodus that targeted Malaysian terrorist Zulkiflu bin Hir alias Marwan.

Goldberg said the participation of American forces in the was in line with agreements that the US and Philippine governments have but which was disputed by local law experts that no such agreement exists since the pact between both countries was limited to the military and not the police force.  

Goldberg also insisted that it was the Philippine government which requested US assistance.
“There was cooperation, that all of this is is done within the legal framework, and that there are agreements, and everything was done consensually or at the request of the Philippine government,” Goldberg said during a television interview.

Bayan-USA’s FoIA request asks for documentation pertaining to the FBI’s involvement in Oplan Exodus, including internal or inter-agency correspondence between David Bowdich, the Assistant Director in charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office, and the PNP Director General Alan Purisima, sacked SAF commander Director Getulio Napenas, or other Philippine authorities, pertaining to Marwan’s apprehension through the execution of Oplan Exodus; manuals or guidelines used by agents of the US in training the PNP-SAF to execute Oplan Exodus, or other similar operations with the aim of apprehending Marwan; responses to requests from the Philippine government to assist in the evacuation of the dead and wounded in the aftermath of Operation Plan Exodus; results of the evidentiary analysis done by the FBI Laboratory indicating the positive DNA identification of Marwan; and provision of any monetary award to the PNP SAF, or other Philippine authorities in exchange for Marwan’s positive DNA identification, such as the $5 million reward that the US State Department offered for Marwan’s arrest.

Oplan Exodus sent “commandos of the Special Action Forces of the Philippine National Police (SAF-PNP) into territory of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangasamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), despite a ceasefire agreement and ongoing peace negotiations between the MILF and Philippine government at the time,” Ellorin said.

The ensuing 12-hour battle resulted in the killing of seven civilians, 44 SAF forces and 22 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
“Involvement of multiple U.S. agencies including the FBI became clear as both Philippine government and civilian organizations investigated the operation. Official reports by the (National) Bureau of Investigation and the Senate cited the presence of six Americans at the Tactical Command Post for the mission, including an American who ordered a Philippine major general to fire artillery,” she added.

Napenas admitted under sworn testimony that the tissue sample of alleged terrorist target Marwan was immediately brought by the SAF to American FBI agents waiting in General Santos City, bypassing PNP Headquarters or any other Philippine agency. “Witnesses cited by the Philippine media also reported seeing among the dead the body of a white American male, who is believed to have been involved in the operation even though the Philippine Constitution prohibits the participation of foreign troops in military operations on Philippine soil,” Ellorin said.

“In November 2015, participants in BAYAN-USA’s Peace Mission went to Mamasapano, where they spoke with widows of MILF fighters who shared accounts of white soldiers being sighted in the encounter, further pointing to US military involvement,” she said.

“The US has dodged accountability for the Mamasapano carnage and countless more military-related crimes against the Filipino people, but Obama and Aquino continue to push for the implementation of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. It is senseless to give the US military increased access to Philippine territory for its war games, when it won’t even admit any wrongdoing in an American operation that resulted in the killing of so many people,” said Ellorin.

“When government agencies like the FBI refuse to willingly be transparent about their actions, the public has the responsibility to use FoIA requests and all the tools at our disposal to hold government to account,” said BAYAN-USA Legal Desk member Jackelyn Mariano.

“In addition to requesting information from the FBI, BAYAN-USA plans to file FoIA requests with other agencies of the US government, including the Navy and the Army, to exercise our right to know the full truth about the US role in Mamasapano,” added Mariano.

“Operation Exodus at Mamasapano clearly shows how the U.S. is carrying out its ‘War on Terror’ with no regard for the lives of Filipinos, whether combatants or civilians. It carries out its war on terror without regard for the national sovereignty of the countries where the alleged terrorists are supposedly hiding. In many countries, the US employs drones to target so-called terrorists, often ending up killing civilians. We demand an investigation into the US role in Operation Exodus and for the termination of agreements like the EDCA which embolden the US to carry out violent, covert operations with impunity. We demand accountability for the lives lost and the violation of Philippine sovereignty,” Ellorin said.

Man in the Palace

The “mama sa palasyo” (man in the Palace), President Aquino, should be charged accountable over the death of the SAF 44, a retired Police General and a former SAF trooper himself said.

In a phone interview with the Daily Tribune, retired Gen. Diosdado Valeroso, who holds with him the so-called critical audio evidence that will accordingly confirm the President’s supposed effort to cover-up the infamous Oplan Exodus carnage, said that he is convinced that there’s nobody directly liable but the President himself.

“Every policeman will recognize who and what is defective with the Mamasapano massacre. And since there seems to be an oplan to cover up, obviously those who are summoned are expected to say what their higher ups would want them to say,” Valeroso said.

“I share the logic of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile. (SAF chief Gen. Getulio Napeñas) acted on higher orders. But since (resigned PNP Director Gen. Alan Purisima) was then suspended, and with the three of them, including the President, who was Napeñas’ immediate superior? A suspended PNP Chief or the PNP’s Chief Executive, the President himself? Obviously, its the President,” he explained.

Valeroso, who is withholding the identities of those involved in the taped conversation he holds, said that he finds it unfair and unjust for the President, through a supposed emissary, to request a cover up of the carnage just so to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) before Congress.

Malacañang’s BBL version is criticized by legislators for its supposed infirmities with respect to the Constitution as it seems to be a major compromise to the demands of the insurgent Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The MILF, together with the breakaway group BIFF, were the ones who relentlessly gunned the SAF 44, yet by far, nobody among the rebels are charged, Valeroso laments.

The retired Police official also decried that the lack of accountability and admission of guilt from the President’s and Purisima’s part and their “seemingly diversion of guilt on Gen. Napeñas” shows that Malacañang seems to be pressured by the MILF.

“It seems that they are afraid of the MILF. It seems that they do not have the courage and man up for justice for those who day by day risk their lives to fight for peace,” an agitated Valeroso lamented.

“If it is peace that they want, then the President himself should exert his might to give justice to the 44 young men who died while following a mission he plotted,” he added.

The fallen SAF 44 were killed on their mission of arresting wanted terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan in who was situated in the insurgent Moros’ territory in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Valeroso also took swipe of the Senators who are trying to bar him from making the controversial audio recording public.

Prominently, among those who scared Valeroso of raps in having a supposed wiretapped possession is Senate President Franklin Drilon, President Aquino’s thorough Liberal Party (LP) ally, who, too, was the one who exerted much effort to divert the issue of President Aquino’s direct guilt into grilling Napeñas — who seemingly wasn’t given the chance before the Senate floor the premises set by Malacañang allies in the Senate — to seemingly absolve the President from any charge.

Ironically, Drilon, together with then legislator Noynoy Aquino, was among those who upheld to make then controversial Hello Garci tapes of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo public before.
Valeroso said that their reluctance to make his tape public shows “the true colors of the administration”.

“Are they afraid? Afraid of what? Of the truth? If they are guilty, then they must be afraid. But I tell them. With my evidence, they must be terribly afraid,” Valeroso warned, adding that he might publicize the audio recording within the week.

The retired General also fired back at his critics who accuse him of dipping his fingers too much on the case that he’s not involved in the case and that he’s a close ally of persistent anti-BBL legislator Sen. Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.

“Those who say such do not have the balls to stand face to face with me. I’m not a politician, so why join or elaborate about my friendship with Sen. Marcos?” he said.

Coronel: It’s SAF’s fault

For Malacañang’s representatives in the negotiations with the MILF, it is the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) that should be blamed in the botched oplan Exodus that lead to the bloody Mamasapano massacre of 44 elite commandos.

Chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer insisted yesterday that the SAF, before pursuing wanted Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan in an MILF territory in Baranggay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao should have first coordinated with the rebel groups first.

“Had the SAF coordinated with the ceasefire mechanisms, there could never have been a Mamasapano (carnage) as we have seen in the past,” Ferrer said yesterday during the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines’ (NUJP) 9th national congress in Punta de Fabian, Rizal.

The 44 SAF troopers were relentlessly gunned by members of the MILF and its breakaway group Bangaamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). Despite such, not one from any of the suspect groups were charged.

The GRP chief negotiator also blames the SAF for not subscribing to the MILF’s ceasefire mechanisms, which is apparently a compromise set - not by the state — but by the MILF since 2002.
“As an organization, we dont see the MILF participating in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao and national elections,” Ferrer added.

She further explained that the MILF has a standing policy and a recent statement that they won’t participate in elections.

The government’s negotiator also kept on insisting that the criticized Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) should still be passed, contradicting the critics who already said that it won’t prosper and that it now seems to be dying a natural death in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate.

Ferrer particularly scored the  major proponent of an alternativee BBL at the Senate, Sen. Ferdinand’ ‘Bongbong ‘ Marcos Jr. who was very vocal against the Malacañang-MILF version of the BBL due to accordingly unconstitutional provisions.

Ferrer also said that the not passing of the BBL hinders a lot of projects and programs in the Bangsamoro region. She added that as of January 2016, the MILF’s 30 percent done with its decommissioning of arms process.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/fbi-slapped-with-foia-over-mamasapano