Highlights of the MILF report on Mamasapano
Key findings and statements in the report of the Special Investigative Commission organized by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF):
— The Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) members came to the site of the fighting spontaneously and there was no organized central command in charge. The BIAF members trekked toward Sitio Amilil at around 4:30 a.m. after they heard gunshots. Upon reaching the wooden bridge, the MILF forces were fired upon and two of their men died.
— Since the Special Action Force (SAF) commandos fired the first shot, the BIAF members who could not clearly see who they were fighting against, concluded that they were not friendly forces.
— The MILF forces are not guilty of any crime, as it was the 55th Special Action Company (SAC) that fired the first shots and there was no coordination between the government and the MILF about the operation.
— The MILF should file a protest regarding the violation of the ceasefire by the SAF. “Without the coordination, the gun battle was inevitable when the two armed groups crossed paths, especially after the BIAF was fired upon by the PNP-SAF.” The SAF commandos should also be held accountable for the death of civilians Badrudin Langalen whose dead body was found inside the position of the 55th SAC and 8-year-old Sarah Pananggulon.
— About 100 members of the MILF—Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces from the 105th and 118th Base Commands—were involved in the intense fighting with the SAF from 9 a.m to 1 p.m. They subdued the 55th SAC because of their “familiarity of the terrain, coupled with their high-caliber firearms.”
— There were no lapses in heeding the call for ceasefire. “Unfortunately, it was already too late as most of the SAF’s 55th SAC had already been killed in the course of the intense fighting even before the order for a ceasefire was received on the ground.” The order for ceasefire from MILF 105th Base Command head Zacaria Goma came minutes after the MILF started to retrieve the bodies of their comrades in the cornfields and war booties.
— Call for immediate ceasefire was hampered by weak cell phone signals in the encounter site or by drained batteries due to the power outage the night before.
— The MILF men saw that the bodies of the 55th SAC forces were purposely piled, as if they were used as shield during the intense fighting.
— The BIAF members did not use unnecessary force in the fighting. But it became so intense that at one point, the men were shooting at each other with only 3 to 4 meters between them.
— Rasid Ladiasan, chair of the MILF-Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), suggested the ceasefire to Maj. Carlos Sol, head of the Government of the Philippines (GPH)-CCCH Secretariat, around 6:38 a.m. After the Joint CCCH and International Monitoring Team (IMT) assembled at the IMT Headquarters in Cotabato City, they subsequently organized the Joint Ceasefire Crisis Team.
— The viral video of an armed man shooting SAF commando Joseph Sagonoy at close range when he was already lying down on the ground and wounded does not clearly show that it was from the BIAF’s 105th Base Command. There were also other armed groups in the area like the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and private armed groups.
— “Even the allegation that the firearm of Sagonoy is one of the 16 firearms that were returned by the BIAF to the government does not prove that the killer of Sagonoy was a BIAF member. The taking of arms is different from the act of killing.”
— Some civilians returned some personal effects and equipment of the slain SAF members to Mamasapano Mayor Benzar Ampatuan, proving that even civilians had access to the bodies of the SAF combatants.
— The MILF and the civilian residents in Mamasapano did not know that Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” and Basit Usman were in their community.
— The house where Marwan was found is not in the area of control of the MILF.
— PO2 Christopher Lalan of the 55th SAC should be held liable for killing four MILF combatants inside a makeshift mosque and a civilian he encountered on the street in Tukanalipao the following day.
