NBI: Video on SAF killing very clear

Screengrab from alleged SAF shooting video.

MANILA, Philippines—The resolution of the six-minute video obtained by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) showing a Special Action Force (SAF) commando being shot at close range is very clear to be able to identify the personalities in the film, according to head agent Ronald Aguto Jr.

“The video obtained from the cellphones of the original uploader was clearer than what had been seen in the Internet thus the personalities in the film were easily identifiable,” Aguto, chief of the NBI-Cybercrime division (CCD), said.

He also said that their forensic analysis of the video would be submitted to the Department of Justice National Prosecutor’s Office task force for identification.

“The CCD’s job is purely technical, the task of identification will be done by the committee investigating the incident,” Aguto said.

He also said that the two cell phones believed to have originally uploaded the gruesome video of SAF member Joseph Sagonoy Jr. being killed at close range is now undergoing a frame by frame analysis.

Aguto also said that part of their job was to track down those who have disseminated or reproduced and sold the video.

He also reiterated that the NBI would file charges against those found to have disseminated the video.

Vic Lorenzo, executive officer of the agency’s Anti-Cybercrime Division had earlier said the source of the video was a Moro rebel but withheld the identity of the person of interest based on the accounts of the cell phone owners whose location was pinpointed by the NBI.

Aguto said the cell-phone owners had cooperated and voluntary submitted their cell phones for forensic investigation and further investigation will be done on the cell phones’ history.

He also said that the person of interest had not been arrested and had been fully cooperating with the investigation.

Lorenzo also said that based on their interview with the cell phone owners they claimed they had no agenda in uploading the grisly video.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima also said that the team of prosecutors would conduct an ocular inspection on Feb. 26 as part of its own investigation of the Mamasapano clash.

De Lima said the video would be part of the evidence in filing cases against those responsible for the massacre of the SAF 44.

She earlier said the video, once authenticated, could be used as evidence against the people behind the deaths of the 44 police commandos who were serving arrest warrants on two suspected terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Jan. 25.