No suspects identified, no raps filed vs SAF 44 killers

MANILA, Philippines - The road to justice for the nine members of the 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos killed in the Mamasapano incident last Jan. 25 could take longer.

This came as the government fact-finding team failed to come up with a criminal complaint after nine months of investigation and the filing of charges last month against 90 commanders and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and some armed civilian groups tagged in the killing of 35 other SAF commandos.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima explained the team of Department of Justice prosecutors and National Bureau of Investigation agents failed to establish the identities of the killers of the commandos from the 84th SAF Company in Barangay Pidsandawan.

“We cannot file charges at this point because there is really no one who is able to identify the group who had encounter with the 84th SAC (Special Action Force command),” De Lima said in a press conference yesterday.

In the 120-page report, which forms the second part of the DOJ fact-finding report on the Mamasapano incident, the investigators concluded there was indeed crime committed as the deaths of the nine “were the result of a series of deliberate acts by armed individuals with whom the 84th Seaborne engaged in a brief firefight in the course of the assault on Marwan (Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir)’s hut.”

But since the identities of the killers are unknown, charges cannot be filed just yet, De Lima stressed.

“While the existence of a crime has been established in the killing of the nine 84th Seaborne commandos, the identity of those responsible therefore was not so established. Despite diligent efforts, the NBI-NPS failed to find a single credible witness on the identity of those involved… Hence, no criminal prosecution may be recommended by the team,” she lamented.                – With Marvin Sy