Mamasapano final report released; no more charges

DEPARTMENT of Justice (DOJ) investigators on Thursday released the second and final part of their report on the Mamasapano clash, ruling out direct United States involvement in the Jan. 25 fighting that led to the deaths of 44 Philippine National Police commandos, 17 Moro guerrilla fighters and three civilians.

Outgoing Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the special investigation team, composed of lawyers from the DOJ-National Prosecution Service and agents from the National Bureau of Investigation, also did not recommend charges against those responsible for the killing of nine of the commandos, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters and civilians due to lack of witnesses.

Asked about this in a news conference,  De Lima replied: “We can only do so much. We cannot invent our findings.”

The clash took place after PNP-Special Action Force (SAF) operatives implemented “Oplan Exodus” to arrest Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” a suspected Malaysian terrorist hiding in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province.

Marwan was killed in the fighting. Two groups of police commandos were subsequently attacked by forces from the MILF, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and private armed groups.

No foreigners in raid

The special investigation team ruled out the presence of American soldiers and other foreigners in the encounter.

“The nature and extent of American involvement was limited to intelligence and technical support, medical evacuation, and humanitarian assistance. They (Americans) did not take part in actual fighting. Neither did they give directives or orders to these SAF commandos,” De Lima said.

She added that the US government, through a joint special operations task force, provided the SAF with “crucial” intelligence information by deploying surveillance aircraft to provide imagery to the tactical command post.

“The surveillance aircraft were not armed attack planes; they did not conduct air strikes but served only for the purposes of monitoring. There was a presence of US personnel, who set up monitors, at the command post but they did not handle operations and therefore our team did not see there any violation of our Constitution, the Revised Penal Code, and other special penal laws,” De Lima explained.

The special investigation team, however, said there were “procedural and chain of custody lapses” on the SAF’s part in immediately turning over Marwan’s finger to Federal Bureau of Investigation representatives “that may have short-circuited the PNP leadership chain as well as the policy-making hierarchy of the executive department.”

Such does not constitute any violation of penal laws, the team said, adding that in the end, “every law enforcement operation is eventually judged by its results.”

“Without the FBI’s DNA examination, the identity of [Marwan] would not be settled. [His identification] is testament to the continued effective partnership between the Philippines and the US in the fight against international terrorism,” the report concluded.

Conspiracy theories

De Lima also said the investigators could also not find evidence to prove reports that there were Americans, Caucasians or persons with “fair skin” who joined the operations or were killed.

“There were SAF commandos with fair complexions whom some would have thought to be foreigners like Senior Insp. Gebnat Tabdi, PO3 Noel Golocan and PO1 Romeo Cempron. With their features you could mistake them for Caucasians but there’s really no proof that there were Caucasians in the field,” she said.

The investigators, in their report, said a blond-haired and heavily built SAF commando, SPO1 Allan Franco of the 84th Seaborne, who survived and was seen after the encounter, may have contributed to more “Caucasian conspiracy theories.”

The video of the blue-eyed man said to be among the dead in Mamasapano appears to be that of PO2 Olibeth Viernes of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, De Lima said.

“Mrs. Viernes confirmed that it (the person in the video) was her slain husband. So there’s no truth that there were Caucasians during the encounter,” the secretary added.

 ‘No credible witness

De Lima said that investigators also could not pinpoint who to charge for the deaths of nine members of the SAF’s 84th Seaborne who were killed while arresting Marwan in Barangay Pidsandawan.

“While investigators were able to establish clearly that the deaths of the nine were the result of deliberate acts by armed men, we can’t charge anyone at this point because nobody can identify whom the SAF commandos encountered. Not even the survivors can say who attacked them,” she said.

The investigators’ report said that despite “diligent efforts,” they “failed to find a single credible witness on the identity of those involved in killing the nine; hence no criminal prosecution may be recommended.”

The DOJ earlier recommended charges of direct assault with murder against 90 members of MILF, BIFF and private armed groups who were tagged responsible for the deaths of 35 members of the SAF’s 55th Special Action Company in Barangay Tukanalipao who took part in Oplan Exodus.