THEY WON’T BE FORGOTTEN Photographs of the 44 Special Action Force troopers who were killed in a botched operation to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir on Jan. 25, 2015, in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, provide a somber backdrop to the Day of National Remembrance ceremony held in their honor at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City on Friday. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
Relatives of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) troopers who were killed in a botched operation against a Malaysian bomb maker and his Filipino cohort four years ago said on Friday that they would continue to pursue justice for the slain commandos while waiting for the government to complete its promised financial assistance to their families.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Malacañang also was demanding justice for the “gallant heroes,” who had been posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor, the highest decoration for Filipino police officers and soldiers.
“We urge the Office of the Ombudsman to resolve with dispatch the case filed against those who recklessly placed them in mortal peril,” Panelo said in a statement on Friday.
“The nation demands justice for them as well as the prosecution of those responsible for the botched operation,” he added. “Those in authority must learn from the mistakes of the past. Otherwise those valorous men in uniform would have died in vain.”
Family members of the slain troopers held a brief rally to mark the Jan. 25, 2015, carnage outside the Supreme Court compound in Manila on Friday.
Holding candles and banners, they urged the court to resolve a petition seeking to upgrade the charges against former President Benigno Aquino III and others they held responsible for the ill-fated commando operation.
Reckless imprudence
Aquino, former Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima and former SAF Director Getulio Napeñas were charged in the Sandiganbayan in July 2017 with graft and usurpation of official functions for bypassing the PNP chain of command that led to the clash with Moro rebels. They were cleared of the more serious charge of reckless imprudence.
Ferdinand Topacio, a lawyer for the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and Citizens Crime Watch that filed the petition, said they wanted the magistrates “to look into this so that [the case] could move on a little.”
“Four years have already passed and there’s still no justice. Maybe this should be looked into. They know that justice delayed is justice denied,” he said.
In ceremonies commemorating the clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, officials led by PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde unveiled a monument in honor of the SAF 44.
Helen Ramacula, mother of one of the slain SAF troopers, PO2 Rodel Ramacula, told reporters at the rites that the families of the commandos had received only 70 percent of the P300,000 financial assistance that was to come from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
DAY OF NATIONAL REMEMBRANCE Families and relatives of the 44 fallen Special Action Force (SAF) troopers attend the memorial rite at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City.
Sufficient documents
“We are just waiting for when they can give [the remainder] … We’re still hoping to receive the aid because we have sufficient documents,” she said.
In Zamboanga City, Ibrahim Asjali, a brother of PO3 Jedz-in Asjali, said their mother also had received only 70 percent of the promised aid in 2015 and nothing more from the DSWD.
Erica Pabalinas, the widow of Senior Insp. Ryan Pabalinas, said the government had “given us all the benefits, except for the DSWD livelihood assistance.”
Asjali also complained that only two families of the recipients of the Medal of Valor handed out by President Duterte in April last year were able to enjoy its benefits.
Panelo said Malacañang would look into the claims regarding the 30 percent of DSWD aid yet to be disbursed to the bereaved families.
The PNP said it had given out all its financial assistance and benefits to the heirs of the SAF 44.
In 2016, Malacañang said the total amount given to beneficiaries of the SAF 44 had reached P188 million, including P151.2 million in mandatory benefits from the PNP and the National Police Commission.
What is hurting the families of the slain troopers more is the feeling that they were not getting justice from officials who sent their sons, brothers and husbands to their untimely deaths.
“I wish those responsible were made to answer for their deeds, for leaving [the troopers] without sending reinforcements immediately when they could have easily done so,” Pabalinas said in an interview at the 5th Special Forces Battalion headquarters in Zamboanga City’s Barangay Mercedes where commemoration rites also were held.
PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde (with medal), NCRPO Director Guillermo Eleazar and acting SAF Director Amando Clifton Empiso join Helen Ramacula, mother of slain PO2 Rodel Ramacula, in unveiling the monument to the heroes of the Mamasapano encounter. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
Keep fighting
“We are leaving everything to God. We do not know how to move on. We need to keep fighting,” she said.
The 44 troopers were sent to a village in Mamasapano to arrest Malaysian bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and Abdul Basit Usman.
Marwan was killed but Usman escaped. As they withdrew, the troopers were overwhelmed by combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other Moro groups.
The top secret operation was not coordinated with the MILF, whose fighters thought that government troops were violating a ceasefire agreement. Eighteen Moro fighters and seven civilians were also killed in the clash.
Usman was killed months later by MILF forces.
A Senate inquiry found Aquino ultimately responsible for the debacle, primarily because he allowed Purisima to participate in the planning of the operation despite being suspended then. —REPORTS FROM GABRIEL PABICO LALU, JULIE M. AURELIO, JULIE ALIPALA AND INQUIRER RESEARCH