CHR on SAF commandos’ deaths: Overkill

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairman Loretta Ann Rosales described as an overkill the shooting of already wounded police commandos during the encounter with Muslim rebels in Maguindanao last month.

Grabe ang abuse. It was overkill. It’s important to authenticate it also,” Rosales told local TV Patrol Chavacano after her visit to the regional CHR office here. She said the video footage that became viral on social media, showing how an unidentified rebel shot at close range a wounded member of the police Special Action Force (SAF), could be used as part of the evidence. But the video has to be authenticated.

Rosales said they have conducted a separate investigation and talked with some SAF members who joined the operation to get Malaysian bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and his Filipino cohort Basit Usman in their hideout in Mamasapano town last Jan. 25.

The police commandos killed Marwan while Usman escaped. The SAF men later clashed with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and a private armed group.

The elite police had 44 dead, the rebel side 18 while five civilians were killed in the crossfire.

She said the CHR had asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to submit a copy of the autopsy report on the slain SAF members.

According to Rosales, the police autopsy report could determine if excessive force was used in the killing of the police officers.

She said that the autopsy report would determine the difference between those who were captured and executed and those who were still shot even though they were already dead.

The CHR chief said they were also trying to investigate the death of the civilians.

But all the information they gathered was based only on testimony since the slain civilians were immediately buried following Muslim tradition.

Based on the data gathered by the CHR, another 1,500 families have been displaced as a result of the operation.

The CHR had also identified three groups of witnesses and resource persons that it will invite in connection with its fact-finding investigation on the encounter in Mamasapano.

Rosales said the investigation team has identified groups of resource persons and witnesses who would be invited during the course of the probe.

The witnesses include four Luzon-based SAF members who were in contact with one of the slain police officers at the time of the incident.

The CHR refused to release the identities of the witnesses.

Also included are a group of first responders following the clash, and SAF survivors currently recuperating at the PNP General Hospital in Quezon City.

“I visited the SAF survivors in Camp Crame last Thursday to personally wish them a speedy recovery and to explain to them the nature and purpose of the joint investigation,” said Rosales.

She said investigators have taken the sworn statements of the witnesses.

According to Rosales, investigators composed of representatives from CHR and the regional human rights commission (RHRC) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had also consulted forensic experts on the autopsy reports of the slain SAF members and the viral video showing supposed violations of international human rights law.

– With Janvic Mateo