MAMASAPANO, Maguindanao—The Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry (PNP-BOI) said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) provided perimeter security when the board tracked the path of the Special Action Force (SAF) members that engaged Moro guerrillas in Barangay Tukanalipao here.
Chief Supt. Benjamin Magalong credited the MILF’s perimeter security force around the clash site in Sitio Amilil, “as part of the confidence building,” and under which, the board did not need too much “show of force” in its onsite visit of the area where 44 SAF members were killed, after an apparent success in their covert mission to neutralize terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan.
Members of the BOI tracked all possible paths from two entry points, through vast interior corn fields and across at least two tributaries of the Kabulnan River, where the 55th SAC engaged mixed groups of Moro rebels in a situation called “pintakasi” on Jan. 25. “Pintakasi” is a local term for convergence of strength or forces, either for fruitful endeavor or destructive adventure.
Asked about the BOI security coordination, Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief peace negotiator, apparently declined to disclose details, saying he was not privy to any security arrangement, because he was in Manila, and that the issue was of MILF CCCH (Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities) and military concern.
A source from the office of MILF Chair Ebrahim Murad, who was reportedly out of the country, referred the Philippine Daily Inquirer to MILF military chief Sammy Gambar. Efforts, however, to reach Gambar proved futile.
But in an exit interview with reporters in MILF Camp Darapanan, Magalong maintained the board’s fact-finding visit was fully coordinated with local authorities of the civilian leadership, police, the local military units and the MILF CCCH.
Magalong said the BOI had particularly coordinated with Chief Supt. Noel Armilla, PNP director in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM); the Office of Mamasapano Mayor Benzar Ampatuan; the 601st Army Brigade in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat, which has jurisdiction over Mamasapano; the MILF CCCH; and with the regional units of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) which he heads.
Following sighting of armed men clad in full camouflage fatigue uniforms, Magalong volunteered to reporters the information that MILF forces secured the perimeter lines of the clash site during the almost four hours that BOI members traveled the area on foot, accompanied by journalists, local leaders and policemen in their blue collared uniforms, as well as a few Philippine Army soldiers on foot.
He said the MILF specifically provided security “against possible BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters’)” intrusion into Sitio Amilil, where BOI members and covering journalists walked the path of the fallen 44 on Tuesday.
When asked of the extent of coordination with the MILF, Magalong said “a coordination simply meant that they (the MILF through its CCCH) had been notified of the coming of the BOI.”
Residents told the Inquirer in the vernacular that they had seen local MILF members’ movement, apparently to cordon the clash site, until a few minutes before the BOI members, with police and Army personnel escorts, arrived in the area.
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