Hard to believe SAF troopers died in a quaintly enchanting place

MAMASAPANO, Maguindanao—The landscape in this corn-growing town is quaintly enchanting it is hard to believe 44 law enforcers lost their lives here in a daylong gun battle with the locals a month ago.

But it is true. Mamasapano’s vast cornfields, divided by a quiet, winding river that flows into the Rio Grande de Mindanao, were the site of some of the clashes between elite police commandos and Moro guerrillas on Jan. 25 that stalled efforts to end four decades of conflict in the Philippines’ beautiful and resource-rich South.

A fifth-class municipality of more than 20,000 people, Mamasapano has a flat topography consisting of marshes, corn plantations and small patches of trees that offered no cover for the valiant but greatly outnumbered men of the 55th Special Action Company (SAC) of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF).

With nowhere to take cover, the commandos took fire and returned fire on their feet. They were wiped out.

“The terrain here is really very challenging, especially in Liguasan Marsh. The [soil here is] soft,” said Director Benjamin Magalong, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and head of the PNP board of inquiry that is investigating the Mamasapano clash.

2 SAF survivors

On Tuesday, Magalong led members of the board in retracing the movements of the SAF commandos in Tukanalipao village hours before they clashed with guerrillas from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The SAF deployed 392 commandos to Mamasapano to get Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian terrorist also known as “Marwan,” and his Filipino deputy, bomb expert Basit Usman.

The three-member board also interviewed several individuals who had direct involvement in the incident, among them SAF and Army personnel.

Surveying the landscape, Magalong said it was easy to understand why the SAF took such a heavy loss.

With the help of two SAF survivors, the board members and a dozen journalists visited the areas occupied by four SAF companies during the police operation.

Clash site

Located along a 50-meter-wide river, the site of the clash in Tukanalipao village is just 6 kilometers away from the town center and about 3 km from the main road.

Under heavy guard from Army and local police, the board members and the journalists reached the area on foot in about 20 minutes at noon on Tuesday.

Residents in the area said the noise of the exchange of fire between the SAF troopers and the Moro rebels was heard as far as the town of Shariff Aguak, the provincial capital, throughout the day on Jan. 25.

A makeshift footbridge made of trunks of fallen trees and bamboo links a flat cornfield to the main village.

The members of the board and the journalists had to carefully cross it in small groups to prevent the squeaky wooden structure from giving way.

Indefensible spot

Standing in the middle of the vast corn plantation, Magalong said he was aware of the difficulties the area posed to security forces because he led SAF operations in Central Mindanao from 2003 to 2006.

He said the spot where the men of the 55th SAC were pinned down and killed by the Moro insurgents was tactically indefensible.

“The area is covered by tall corn plants so your line of vision is blocked,” Magalong said.

“It’s not a defensible position. It’s really difficult to defend yourself (on that spot) because you don’t have concealment or cover from enemy fire. There’s no protection,” he added.

Told that there was a line of 6-meter-tall trees on the edge of the cornfield, Magalong said the SAF commandos must have failed to see it as they dodged fire.

“Imagine yourself walking forward and you’re being hit [from different directions], it’s hard to determine where you should go,” he said.

Reinforcements’ position

From the encounter site, the board members proceeded to the area where the 42nd SAC and 45th SAC had positioned themselves to serve as reinforcement forces for the 55th SAC.

Located on the edge of the waist-deep river and covered by banana plants, the spot was just 500 meters away from the right side of the encounter site.

From the main road, it could be reached only by crossing the footbridge and going through a cornfield.

Magalong said the 42nd SAC and the 45th SAC were supposed to link up with the 55th SAC, which was deployed as the main support unit for the 84th SAC, which raided Marwan’s and Usman’s hideout in Pidsandawan.

Rehearsal needed

But the 42nd SAC and the 45th SAC were unable to provide support to the 55th SAC because they came under heavy fire, Magalong said.

He said all the SAF units deployed for the mission arrived two hours beyond their planned time of arrival and that only the 84th SAC troopers were able to reach their identified position.

“There are situations that [are impossible to simulate],” Magalong said. “That’s why you do initiative-based tactics or look for a place that [is] similar to the operating environment and do your rehearsal there.”

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