MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) should start working on the promotion of members of the Special Action Force (SAF) who played prominent roles in the covert operations in Mamasapano last Jan. 25, a senator said yesterday.
Rather than dwell on President Aquino’s role in the operations, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto said the government as well as the PNP should focus on the recommendations that arose from the Senate and PNP’s Board of Inquiry (BOI) reports.
Recto said the government could easily act on the BOI’s recommendation to grant posthumous promotion to the 44 SAF men killed in the operation and one-rank promotion to surviving members of the 84th Seaborne Company and Police Officer 2 Christopher Lalan, the lone survivor of the 55th Special Action Company (SAC).
“There are many prescriptions which can be acted upon motu propio. Reports are meant to be acted upon, not archived,” he said.
“I think there is universal agreement on this, so the ball on their promotion should have started rolling a long time ago,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, currently detained on plunder charges, expressed belief that the heroism of the 44 slain commandos should be highlighted in the Senate report. He filed his written manifestation before the Senate panel chaired by Sen. Grace Poe.
“The body should ‘expressly acknowledge’ the fact that Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, was killed and (the strength of) Ahmad Akmad Batabol Usman, alias Basit Usman, weakened, thus the mission was indeed accomplished,” Estrada said in a statement.
Estrada said the SAF members who were killed in the operations “should be commended” for their sacrifices in carrying out the mission.
He also pushed for the “enumeration of the names and the respective titles of the 44 men who exhibited gallantry and heroism” in the official Senate report “so it will form part of the records of the Senate.”
This would be a symbolic act from the Senate to honor and memorialize their life and service to the country, he said.
The 84th Seaborne was the “main effort” whose 38 members, led by Supt. Raymund Train, killed Marwan in the early hours of Jan. 25.
The group was met with heavy fire from Moro rebels as they withdrew from the area. Nine of its members were killed while 14 were wounded during the encounter.
The 55th SAC, meanwhile, was the main support unit or blocking force, but they were pinned down by Moro rebels while on their way to rendezvous with the withdrawing 84th Seaborne. Only Lalan survived after a 10-hour gun battle in a cornfield.
‘Probe PNP procurement, review protocols’
Recto said the BOI findings on dud ammunition and faulty radio devices must merit an official probe on the PNP procurement process and status of equipment.
He cited page 89 of the BOI report, which noted that “several rounds of ammunition of M203 grenade launchers were defective” and “some radios of the SAF commandos were unreliable (and) were not designed for military-type tactical operations.”
Other logistical deficiencies bared in the Mamasapano operations include “our lack of air assets to provide fire support and medical evacuation.”
Recto said the PNP should also revisit its policies on funding large-scale mission operations as the BOI noted that Operation Plan Exodus reportedly had a measly budget of P100,000.
The lawmaker also endorsed the BOI recommendation to review several manuals and protocols, which were not strictly followed during the raid.
Among these is the Joint Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)-PNP Operational Guidelines for Ad Hoc Joint Action Group, particularly sections dealing with law enforcement operations.
Recto batted for the need to look deeper into how the PNP and AFP were lulled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) into believing that it had already imposed a ceasefire.
“The embattled SAF commandos even observed a ceasefire after they’ve been ordered to. If you read the report, there were several text messages relaying to our troops the order and the assurance of the MILF leadership that it has called for a ceasefire,” he said.
“Because they believed that MILF had imposed a ceasefire, reinforcement from the Army was delayed… It was the government side which obeyed the ceasefire. It became a unilateral ceasefire – by us,” he said.
Display of cowardice
The 300 members of the elite police force who were supposed to provide support to their embattled colleagues do not deserve any glory.
This was the sentiment of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who revealed yesterday some details about the Mamasapano operation that were initially kept confidential.
“What did they do during the calls of help of their comrades? Because before you start pointing your fingers to other units like the Army or even the President for blame or for not responding, that should be asked first. What did you do or did you attempt to rescue your comrades? Well, according to the resource persons, they did not,” Trillanes said in an interview over ANC.
Trillanes said he spoke with members of the AFP – also resource persons during an executive session with the senators – who provided him with their accounts of what took place as far as their side was concerned during the Mamasapano incident.
He said he expected to see these details in the Senate report but they were omitted. – With Marvin Sy