MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police (PNP) is coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to track down the person who uploaded the gruesome video of the Mamasapano encounter.
“The NBI and the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group have a joint effort to file appropriate charges against the perpetrators,” PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. said Friday in a press briefing.
Cerbo said the NBI had “a breakthrough” in its ongoing investigation on the video showing a gunman finishing off at close range a Special Action Force officer amid the gunfight of the SAF troopers and Moro guerillas in Maguindanao.
The officer in the video was PO1 Joseph Sagonoy, of the 55th SAF company, who served as blocking force for the assault team targeting Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir or Marwan.
Of the 36 members of the 55th SAF company, only one survived. All 35 died as they were pinned down by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
“I have no official report but I heard the NBI has identified the person who uploaded the video,” Cerbo said.
The six-minute video showed Sagonoy fighting for his life being finished off with two gun shots near a cornfield in broad daylight.
After the man shot the officer, he ran through the cornfield and took the battle gear of another slain officer. The man taking the video was speaking in the vernacular.
The disturbing video started circulating on media on Tuesday. Before government agencies asked websites to take down the video, it reached more than a million views.
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