Hurt by criticisms, Army says it was in the dark

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao—The military was in the dark.

An Army spokesperson said this much to continue defending the military against a barrage of criticisms that it failed to come to the rescue of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) which came under heavy fire from Moro guerrillas and lost 44 men during a highly classified operation to get international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan.

Capt. Jo-anne Petinglay, chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division public affairs unit, said in a phone interview that the entire Army unit assigned to Maguindanao province was kept in the dark about the operation and did not know what was going on.

Army soldiers move into the town of Mamasapano in Maguindanao province at dawn of Jan. 26, hours after 44 police commandos were killed following a successful operation to get international terrorist Marwan. JEOFFREY MAITEM/INQUIRER MINDANAO

It was also her statement on Sunday when asked about the fighting in Mamasapano.

“I will confirm that there was heavy fighting in Mamasapano but we have no complete information about it, we are verifying all these information,” Petinglay said on Sunday when 44 SAF men were slaughtered in a village of Mamasapano by guerrillas from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

On Thursday, Petinglay said the Army did not send troops because it was not certain what was going on.

When the gunfight erupted, she said officials of the 45th Infantry Battalion and 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade—which have soldiers stationed near the area—coordinated with each other.

But it was to prepare soldiers to reinforce a 45th IB detachment nearest to the clash site, about four kilometers away from Barangay Tukanalipao, “where the gun burst appeared to be emanating,” Petinglay said.

“But how can the 45th IB move when it lacked the basic information like who were engaged in the firefight and exactly where was it?,” she said. “We do not have the details, our information was all raw during the early hours of Sunday,” Petinglay added.

An Army lieutenant assigned to nearby Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao said his superiors thought it was a skirmish involving MILF men and lawless groups.

“We also thought it was a clan war raging in Mamasapano,” he said on condition of anonymity.

The sacked PNP-SAF commander, Chief Supt. Getulio Pascua Napeñas, had admitted the operation was not coordinated with the military on the ground and with the MILF to avoid alerting Marwan.

Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, 6th Infantry Division chief, also told reporters he did not have any idea about the operation.

Pangilinan admitted that it pains him to watch news on TV or listen to radio reports that the military did not respond.

“We are in the same government force. It hurts us, much more the families. It will be good if you could help us stop speculations,” he said. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao