Raw footage of Mamasapano shootout matches viral video

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has found out that raw footage of the Mamasapano shootout online matches the video taken from the cell phones of two Christian traders who first uploaded them on social networking sites.

The NBI-Cyber Crime Division (CCD) report is expected to be submitted to NBI Director Virgilio Mendez today.

CCD chief Ronald Aguto said a Christian trader from Kidapawan City first uploaded the video on Facebook, and that his IP address was traced as the very first to upload the footage online.

“He got it from a friend with a Muslim sounding name via Bluetooth,” he said. “It was sent to his cellphone from a laptop.”

The video’s source lives in a town in Mindanao known for clashes between government troops and Moro rebels, Aguto said.

The man shared the video privately among his Facebook friends through his cellphone.

One of them, another Christian trader from Davao, downloaded a copy and posted the video to make it appear that he was the original source.

His post was shared publicly, and the video showing a police commando being finished off went viral.

Aguto said the video frames taken from their phones after these were subjected to forensics  in Manila  matched the ones uploaded on Facebook and YouTube.

“This means the videos were in their  original form and not spliced,” he said. “If they were spliced, some images would not be the same.”

Each video has about 10,600 frames.

The NBI would be able to identify the armed men and the original source of the footage once the authenticity of the videos has been proven.

Thereafter the CCD would forward the result to the joint NBI-National Prosecution Service panel for the filing of appropriate charges.