House has 11 questions for probers

MANILA, Philippines–The ad hoc committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) has given the police, military, Mindanao autonomous government and the peace panel up to Feb. 9 to submit their respective reports and replies to questions on the death of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. and committee chair Rufus B. Rodriguez wrote separate letters on the deadline and related issues to Philippine National Police Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles.

The committee had 11 questions for Hataman, including why terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” and Abdul Basit Usman were hiding in Mamasapano town and who are coddling them.

The committee is asking Deles the extent of her participation in the encounter, specifically on whether she stopped the military from saving the SAF commandos.

The questions include the following:

Why were Marwan and Usman hiding in Mamasapano?

Who were coddling the two terrorists?

At what time did the defense secretary, AFP chief of staff and the Western Mindanao commander get the notification about the raid?

What actions did the defense secretary, AFP chief of staff and the Western Mindanao commander take after being notified of the raid?

What did the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) do upon learning of the SAF raid in its midst?

Do the MILF and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have an alliance?

What roles did the MILF and BIFF, along with private armed groups, play in gunning down the SAF commandos?

What is the protocol for government forces when they enter MILF territory, specifically Salibo, Pagatin, Mamasapano and Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao?

The committee also wants to know what time Espina, Catapang, Hataman and Deles received information on the raid and their subsequent actions.

Espina is being asked why the SAF reserve force did not reinforce the assault and blocking forces that suffered heavy casualties in the encounter.

The committee is asking Catapang whether there was an order to give assistance to the SAF troops and who gave the orders.

‘Too late’

Testifying before the House ad hoc committee on the proposed BBL, Catapang said that “when we were extricating [members of] the SAF (Special Action Force), we were fired upon by lawless elements in the area.”

Catapang said the military investigation looked only into whether the AFP neglected its duty to reinforce the beleaguered SAF forces.

At that point, it was already too late to save the police commandos because of lack of coordination with them before they moved to serve warrants of arrest on Malaysian terrorist Marwan and local terrorist Basit Usman, according to Catapang.

Marwan and Usman were on the US list of most wanted terrorists.

Close to Army camp but…

The AFP chief of staff said the area was close to an Army camp in the province but the lack of coordination prevented the soldiers from acting swiftly to prevent more SAF casualties.

“Coordination could make a difference between living and dying because if you fail to coordinate, you’ll fail to get to the area where you are needed most. We do not know the target, from where they’ll be coming from, what’s their plan or what they call concepts of operations,” Catapang said.

“We were informed when they were already being engaged by the enemy but before that, there was nothing,” he added.

Initial reports said the AFP had deployed tanks and military trucks from the 45th Infantry Battalion, which is 3 to 4 kilometers away from the clash site, but for unknown reasons these forces did not actually penetrate the scene of the firefight (Barangay (village) Tukanalipao in Mamasapano).

Informed at 5:30 a.m.

Catapang said that based on the AFP fact-finding report, the military was informed of the encounter between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Jan. 25.

“We were already informed and we were doing our job coordinating with them on what to do inasmuch as they were asking for reinforcements because they were already engaged with the lawless elements. We were already there as early as 5:30 a.m. and up to that time, we were able to help them extricate all their forces on the ground … [U]p to 11:30 in the evening we were there with them, helping ensure that they were extricated from that difficult situation,” he said.

Catapang said the AFP could not provide air support “because we didn’t know where they are.”

“On our part, we’re be able to say that our soldiers did the best in those extreme circumstances,” he said.

The AFP chief of staff said he could not submit the finished report to the committee until after it was signed by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and President Aquino.

Feb. 9 deadline

The committee had previously given them until Feb. 2 to submit their reports or else it would be forced to suspend the BBL hearings and dim the chances of approving the draft charter by next month as desired by President Aquino.

Rodriguez said the Feb. 9 deadline would not be extended.

Interest in the BBL hearings has been dampened significantly by the death of the 44 SAF members who ran out of bullets to defend themselves after being surrounded by Moro rebels, bandits and private armed groups.