House digs up telling details
Disputes MILF finding
Napeñas disputed the finding of the MILF in its report about the incident that it was the SAF that fired the first shot, leading to the bloodshed that claimed 64 lives, 44 of them on the SAF side, 17 on the MILF side and 3 civilians.
He said an improvised explosive device went off in the hut of one of the targets, Marwan, who was killed in the operation. “The fact that the IED exploded, it’s impossible that would not wake you up.”
Asked if the 55th SAF, the first team that engaged the MILF fighters and other armed groups, had fired first, Napeñas said the question should be directed to the lone survivor of that unit.
He said 310 SAF troopers on standby had failed to provide reinforcement to the 55th SAF because of the heavy volume of fire and a vast open field between their locations.
Nom de guerre
Asked by Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer also admitted that MILF chief negotiator Iqbal, who was absent at the hearing, was using a “nom de guerre.”
She, however, declined to reveal Iqbal’s real name.
Nograles noted that the use of a fake name in passports was punishable under the law, but did not pursue the point.
Turning to PNP officer in charge Leonardo Espina, the lawmaker asked if he thought the deaths of the SAF 44 resulted from an encounter or a massacre.
“I’m not an expert,” Espina averred, but he agreed with Nograles’ assertion that some SAF commandos were killed while defenseless.
“It’s best for agencies mandated to pass judgment or decision to rule on these investigations,” he said.
Asked the same question a little later, Napeñas’ reply was more categorical: “It’s a massacre. A misencounter would have lasted 30 minutes not the entire afternoon. It’s all on the video,” he said, alluding to a video purportedly showing the SAF men being killed at close range.
Asked why he considered it a massacre when in his previous testimony he claimed that the SAF had shot down 250 enemies during the mission.
He said that what he meant was his men had reported hitting the enemies but there was no way they could confirm whether they were killed or injured.
The second House hearing ended after eight hours. It will resume Wednesday.
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