Screengrab from alleged SAF shooting video
MANILA, Philippines–The Philippine National Police was “hurt” after an alleged video of the Mamasapano encounter where 44 Special Action Force troopers were brutally killed by rebels made the rounds on the internet.
“Masakit at malungkot ‘yung video kung confirmed na part ito ng Mamasapano incident at kung ang subject ng video ay miyembro ng SAF,” PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. said in an interview Wednesday.
(It’s painful and sad if the video is confirmed to be a part of the Mamasapano incident and if the subject of the video is indeed a member of the SAF.)
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The six-minute video spreading on social media showed a man fighting for his life being finished off with two gun shots in the chest and head near a cornfield in broad daylight.
After the man shot the officer in uniform, he ran through the cornfield and took the battle gear of another slain officer. The man taking the video was speaking in the vernacular.
BACKSTORY: Napeñas: We did not neglect our SAF men
In a phone interview with INQUIRER.net, James Sagonoy confirmed that the man being brutally shot in the video was his younger brother, PO2 Joseph Sagonoy.
“Tumatawag mga relatives ko sa akin. Nasa video daw kung paano pinatay ‘yung kapatid ko,” the Northern Samar-based relative said.
While he has no access to the video, he said he has asked his relatives to save the video in a flash drive so they “could submit it to the authorities as evidence.”
Cerbo said it was an apparent violation of the human rights law. “These are criminals, lawless elements,” he said.
Even in the law of war, the spokesman said one should respect the life of a person.
“You’re not supposed to kill helpless people,” he lamented.
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Cerbo said the video will “most definitely be used as input and a consideration” of the investigation of the PNP’s board of inquiry.
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