The combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were “justified” in assaulting police commandos who entered their turf and drew first blood in Mamasapano two months ago.
By Alex M. Ho, CNN Philippines | Updated 16:13 PM PHT Wed, March 25, 2015
(CNN Philippines) — The combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were “justified” in assaulting police commandos who entered their turf and drew first blood in Mamasapano two months ago.
This was among the highlights of the MILF Mamasapano report submitted to the Senate on Tuesday (March 24) — exactly a week after the senators came out with their own report on the encounter that left 44 elite troopers dead.
But if the Senate report on the bloody clash almost echoed the findings of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Board of Inquiry (BOI) last March 13, the MILF findings ran in stark contrast.
The findings of the MILF’s Special Investigative Commission (SIC) showed that members of its armed group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) had no choice but to fire back when Special Action Force (SAF) troopers fired upon and instantly killed two of Moro rebels crossing a wooden bridge in Barangay Tukanalipao on that fateful morning of January 25.
“Without proper coordination, the BIAF did not know that the forces in Sitio Amilil were government forces,” the report said.
And contrary to the Senate report that the SAF44 were “murdered” and Senator Grace Poe calling the incident a “massacre,” the MILF said that its combatants did not commit any inhumane acts — adding that it was likely that its breakaway armed group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), committed the “despicable” acts.
In fact, the report continued, it was the government forces who violated international humanitarian laws, citing the case of survivor PO2 Christopher Lalan “who killed four MILF combatants while the latter were sleeping inside a makeshift mosque” a day after the encounter.
The MILF report also said that Lalan killed another unarmed civilian who already put up his hands as a sign of non-aggression.
Capping its findings, the report said the MILF should file a protest against the PNP-SAF for violating the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Aside from this, the report concluded, an investigation should be pursued against Lalan to look into his liabilities for killing MILF members in their sleep and gunning down another civilian.
The report also maintained that the MILF did not coddle the slain terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan — saying that the hut where the bomb maker was killed was located in Barangay Pembalkan, which was three kilometers away from the battle site and “frequented” instead by the BIFF and the group of Mohammad Ali Tambako or the Justice for Islamic Movement (JIM).