LOOK: PNP officials lay wreath at SAF 44 memorial

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde on Friday led top police officials in a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial for the fallen 44 Special Action Force (SAF) troopers inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig on Friday.

Key officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Special Action Force (SAF), along with relatives of the 44 commandos slain in Mamasapano, Maguindanao back in 2015 attend the Day of National Remembrance at the SAF Headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City. (Photo by Gabriel Pabico Lalu)

Relatives of the fallen SAF 44 troopers also witnessed the ceremony that marked the Day of National Remembrance for the troopers who were killed during a 2015 police operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Also present at the wreath-laying ceremony were SAF Acting Director Chief Supt. Amado Empiso, Deputy Director Sr. Supt. Manuel Manolo and National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Guillermo Eleazar.

(Photo by Gabriel Pabico Lalu)

(Photo by Gabriel Pabico Lalu)

On January 25, 2015, the 44 SAF troopers were killed in a corn field in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano while serving an arrest warrant for Malaysian terrorist bomb-maker Zulkifli Abdhir or Marwan and other suspected terrorists. The police operation was code-named “Oplan Exodus.”

(Photo by Gabriel Pabico Lalu)

Marwan was killed during the operation while Abdul Basit Usman, another target of the operation, was able to escape.  Usman was killed in a later operation in May 2015.  /muf