DOJ creates panel on raps vs BIFF, MILF men

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday created a panel of prosecutors to conduct preliminary investigation on criminal charges against 90 commanders and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and some armed civilians tagged in the killing of 44 policemen in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan. 25

Prosecutor General Claro Arellano designated five state prosecutors to conduct the preliminary investigation on the complaint filed by a fact-finding team last Sept. 22. Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Rosanne Balauag will lead the panel with Assistant State Prosecutors Aldrin Evangelista, Benito Oliver Sales III, Rasssendell Rex Gingoyon and Alexander Suarez as members.

The DOJ panel is specifically tasked to determine if there is probable cause for the filing of charges of direct assault with murder and theft against the respondents.

The respondents include 13 commanders of the MILF and six commanders of the BIFF. But their names were not made public so as to prevent them from evading possible prosecution.

They were accused of acting “in conspiracy with one another to attack, employ force, seriously intimidate or resist” the 35 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos, “who were uniformed police officers and thus persons in authority.”

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier said the preliminary investigation would not affect the ongoing peace process between the government and the MILF, believing the rebel group would cooperate in the legal processes.

De Lima said the respondents could be summoned to the preliminary investigation proceedings in the DOJ coursed through the MILF leadership or the Coordination Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities.

The fact-finding team of prosecutors and National Bureau of Investigation agents based the report on accounts of eyewitnesses – including one alias Marathon – who identified the liable MILF and BIFF commanders and have been placed under the witness protection program.

The viral videos of the encounter that circulated in social media also helped in the investigation and their sources have been traced.

Based on the results of the probe, the killings of the SAF commandos appeared to be “spontaneous and not an institutional act of the MILF.”

The charges covered the cases of 35 slain SAF men who belonged to the 55th company that engaged MILF and BIFF fighters and armed villagers in the cornfields of Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano.

The cases of the nine other slain police commandos from the 84th SAF company in Barangay Pidsandawan as well as the five civilians and 18 MILF fighters also killed during the clash and the reported US involvement in the operation are still undergoing investigation.