Soldiers’ Lives Matter (SLM)
that the dead soldiers were clearly at fault. When Tagbina, Surigao del Sur was considered as a “red area” in the 1980s, former Constabulary Highway Patrol Group elements were in pursuit of hold up suspects. As there was no sufficient communication among units at that time, a misencounter resulted to the accidental killing of two CHPG members from another station. Investigation ruled these deaths as unfortunate yet excusable.
Dennis Acop (USMA ’83) is another highly decorated officer in the Army and one of the pioneer members of the Special Action Force (SAF). Per his narration, when Dennis was a lieutenant in the early eighties, a section from his unit fatally ambushed two fellow soldiers thinking them to be the enemy in an area declared to be no man’s land by higher headquarters. In another instance, a soldier from his section mistakenly shot a civilian thought to be an NPA combatant during a barangay fiesta celebration. In like manner, these deaths were ruled as unfortunate yet excusable.
Some deaths from friendly fire can be justified as excusable like the ones shared by Generals Simoy and Acop, but others are absolutely unnecessary as in the seemingly preventable death of 44 SAF commandos in 2015. Dennis took much offense when his former colleagues in the SAF were massacred in a supposed top-secret mission that went haywire. While this incident does not exactly fall under the definition of misencounter, to Dennis, the “Mamasapano massacre” can be likened to one. In fact, Dennis strongly opines that the highest military and police leadership at that time were indirectly, if not ultimately, responsible for the death of 44 SAF commandos as the operations plan was not transparent at the onset. Perhaps owing to the sensitivity of the operation, the Army was not involved. The massacre, evidenced with a horrifying videoclip of physical mutilation, was obviously not due to friendly fire. But it surely felt like one, as Dennis blames the authorities who put the 44 SAF commandos in harm’s way by their deliberate omission of Army support in the operations plan, which authorities subsequently, “conveniently and cowardly shirked the responsibility of providing them fire support when they needed it most.” The results of the subsequent investigation on this Mamasapano massacre in 2015 exposes “the callous reality that soldiers’ lives did not matter when they got in the way of political agenda,” according to Dennis.
Findings of investigations surrounding death from friendly fire can be as simple as soldiers’ negligence or as complex as command responsibility. The more recent case of the four Army intelligence operatives, who were killed by the police while on a legitimate mission, could not have been a misencounter, as police leadership initially claimed. There had to be a hidden agenda, based on the video footages posted online. With much hopeful reliance to the investigators, I hope the ultimate culprits will be exposed for the sake of the family left behind by these soldiers killed by friendly fire. I pray for brave investigators who will have the courage to report the truth, even if the truth will be against powerful people in the military/police hierarchies.
In my younger years, I would have likely taken revenge against those police officers responsible. With much maturity, perhaps due to age and experience, I find peace in the Bible, for it is written in 1 Peter 3:9, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” The death of any person from friendly fire will always be surrounded with mystery and suspicion. Knowing the reasons and the liabilities of misencounters are not beyond understanding if we truly trust the process, legally and spiritually.
(To be continued)
A former infantry and intelligence officer in the Army,siegfredmisonshowcasedhisservantleadership philosophy in organizations such as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Malcolm Law Offices, Infogix Inc., University of the East, Bureau of Immigration, and Philippine Airlines. He is a graduate of West Point in New York, Ateneo Law School, and University of Southern California. A corporate lawyer by profession, he is an inspirational teacher and a Spirit-filled writer with a mission.
For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.