MANILA, Philippines — A member of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force took some members of the Philippine Army based in South Cotabato to dinner a day before the Mamasapano operation, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin revealed on Monday.
“Totoo nilabas nila yung batallion commander ng 45th at saka yung brigade commander si Colonel Melquiades Feliciano, inimbitahan ng isang SAF na mag dinner sa South Cotabato the day before the operation,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Army’s 118th anniversary at Fort Bonifacio.
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said in a radio interview on Sunday that the SAF invited the military officials to a drinking session on January 24.
Trillanes said the objective of the SAF was to ensure that the Army would not be able to operate because they wanted to do the mission by themselves.
The SAF involved in the Jan. 25 operation targeted top terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan who had a $5 million bounty on his head and Filipino bomb maker Basit Usman who had a $1 million bounty.
The operation led to the deaths of 44 police officers, 18 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five civilians.
Gazmin would not say, however, if the SAF deliberately got the Army officers and soldiers drunk so they would not be involved in the operation as Trillanes said.
“Bahala ka na mag-interpret nun (You can make your own interpretation),” Gazmin said.
Armed Forces chief General Gregorio Catapang Jr. confirmed that the military officials were indeed invited out by the SAF a night before the operation.
“I am not at liberty to talk about that because that was part of the Senate executive session,” he said.
At that time, the Army did not know of the mission.
“Baka naging coincidence or whatever. It is still up to the Senate report to confirm or not to confirm whether it is related to the operation,” he said.
Lack of coordination between the military and police during the January operation has been blamed for the botched operation. It has supposedly created a rift between the two institutions as they also blamed each other on the outcome of the incident.