Remembering the Mamasapano massacre

Tomorrow is the second anniversary of the infamous Mamasapano massacre that shocked the entire nation when on a Sunday on Jan. 25, 2015 in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (purportedly with a few US Army embedded advisers) were massacred by elements of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in one of our history’s worst defeats in our war against terrorism.

That ill-fated operation was supposedly to capture or arrest Malaysian terrorist and bomb maker Zulkifli Abdhir a.k.a. Marwan and his companion Basit Usman in what was called Operation Exodus. This was one dark chapter in Philippine police history and what was extremely embarrassing was that, no less than then President Benigno Aquino was on top of the situation in a Drone Center in Zamboanga City. What was further embarrassing is when we learned that this operation was literally a “Bounty Hunt” after all; Marwan had a $5 million reward for his head!

When the ill-fated incident became breaking news, Pres. Aquino disappeared from public view for three full days, appearing only three days later to grace the reopening of a Mitsubishi car assembly plant when the remains of the SAF 44 arrived at the Villamor Air Base. The President chose not to attend the very important arrival ceremonies of the fallen SAF that he literally sent to their untimely death! He had no sympathies for his soldiers!

It is now two years since that infamous incident happened and today no one has been tagged as the persons responsible for the deaths of the 44 SAF. People are already joking that the 44 SAF committed mass suicide in Mamasapano. But kidding aside, someone high in the ranks of the Philippine National Police (PNP) ordered more than 500 PNP officers including the elite SAF to swoop down to Mamasapano to arrest Marwan. It was supposed to be a simple “enter, arrest and extract” operation.

A week later, the nipa hut where Marwan was allegedly killed was burned to the ground in what many pundits say was a clear case of destroying any evidence. What we would like to know is, did the PNP SOCO Team take pictures of the dead Marwan inside his hut… or did they take photos of the bullet holes in order to ascertain the bullet’s trajectory? Well, all this evidence went out in smoke, which proves that there was an effort to hide something in Mamasapano.

Another mystery haunting the Mamasapano incident was the presence of a US white colored helicopter that helped evacuate casualties, thus adding to the rumors that US soldiers were involved in that ill-fated mission, which the US embassy vehemently denied. But farmers in Mamasapano insist that four Caucasian-looking soldiers were among the casualties of that encounter in Mamasapano.

Another unanswered question is what was the role of suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Alan Purisima in Oplan Exodus? We know for a fact that despite his being suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman, Purisima continues to have the trust and confidence of the PNP Chief, hence many pundits insist that Purisima was involved in the planning of this ill-fated operation. Call it strange that after the debacle of Jan. 25th 10 days later, Pres. Aquino accepted the resignation of Purisima. Would the President have accepted his resignation if the Oplan Exodus was a success? I don’t think so!

Finally, there is that $5 million question as to who got the bounty money for the killing of Marwan? Of course the US embassy is tightlipped about this issue and we’re not getting any information from the officials of the Aquino regime. But for sure, someone collected that money!

Speaking of the Mamasapano incident, even Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte is curious and asked why this operation failed? He clearly pointed out that he did not want to revive any discussion on this incident, but he had a disturbing question as to why no one called up the air assets of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) like helicopters stationed in Mindanao when the fighting was raging and could have tipped the balance!

In hindsight, the Mamasapano debacle could have been avoided if Pres. Aquino and Gen. Getulio Napeñas had good intelligence and had a very good coordination with the AFP forces in Maguindanao or the MILF. Alas, someone thought that Operation Exodus was a “walk-in-the-park” and they had enough troops to handle the situation (and collect the bounty for themselves) without coordinating with the Philippine Army. So when they were ambushed by the MILF and BIFF, they couldn’t call for help from the Army that could have come to their rescue and prevent the 44 SAF from being massacred. Someone ought to pay for this terrible mistake!

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