The International Monitoring Team (IMT) tasked to monitor the implementation of the peace agreement between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) found “no sufficient evidence” that the MILF-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Force (BIAF) perpetrated the summary execution of 44 elite police commandos in the cornfields of Mamasapano last January 25.
The IMT report which was sent by email to the government peace panel Sunday said “there were no witnesses” to the “summary execution” being blamed on the MILF secessionist group.
Instead, the IMT found the elite commandos liable for violating ceasefire protocols and lack of coordination in carrying out a “valid law enforcement operation.”
The findings of the IMT were presented by GPH peace panel head Miriam Coronel Ferrer at a press briefing yesterday in Ortigas, Pasig City.
The mission of the IMT is limited to “verification only and not to make thorough investigations.”
The SAF44 commandos were killed as they exited Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano, Maguindanao after killing Malaysian terrorist bomber Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and wounded his Filipino cohort Abdul Basit Usman.
“After(the) raid on Marwan’s hut and subsequent clash between 84th Sac and BIFF, the PNP-SAF at some point engaged the MILF-BIAF which went from ‘the status of deliberately uncoordinated movements to a disastrous firefight between the 55th SAC and elements of the BIAF 105th BC’, the report stated.
The Senate investigation declared the Mamasapano tragedy a massacre, refuting the claim of the MILF that the death of SAF44 resulted from a misencounter.
Manila Bulletin
