Rumors and ruses swirl around the massacre of police commandos by Moro separatists at Mamasapano Jan. 25. Supposedly leaders of both sides were after the $6- or $8- or $10-million rewards for the capture of two brutal terrorists. Purportedly US forces were involved — and killed — too. Allegedly President Noynoy Aquino forbade a military rescue of the trapped cops, so is now trying to wriggle out of the mess — if a coup d’état doesn’t get him first. Ostensibly this, apparently that, instant experts chatter.
It brings to mind the Indian folktale of the six blind men and the elephant. The first blind man rubbed the elephant’s hide and declared it was like a wall. The second man stroked the tusk and insisted the animal was like a spear. The third swung the trunk and stated the elephant was like a snake. The fourth tugged at the ear and claimed it was a fan. The fifth hugged the leg and averred it was a tree. The sixth pulled the tail and said it was like a rope. So they went their merry way, each with a version, yet all in the wrong.
People must not lose sight of the bottom line in the massacre. That is, lives and livelihoods were lost. Aside from 44 Special Action Forces, felled too were 16 separatists, and 20 civilians, two of them youngsters, caught in crossfire. Scores of barrio folk fled homes and farms; hundred-million-dollar job-creating investments to Mindanao have been put on hold.
Who fired first and why there was no coordination between cease-fired forces would soon be established. But it’s clear that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front committed overkill. They finished off the wounded SAFs with shots to the head, stripped them of uniforms, rifles, and personal mobiles, and even phoned the deceased’s wives and moms to brag about their deed. The MILF barbarism deserves condemnation.
Eventually to be resolved too are the roles, if any, of P-Noy and suspended pal National Police chief Alan Purisima. As well to be settled are if the MILF harbored terrorists Zulkifli “Marwan” bin Hir and Basit Usman, if the former was killed, and if the military extracted or not the besieged cops from the fire zone. But clearly a commander who loses 44 men in a raid they initiated but couldn’t exfiltrate from because they ran out of ammo early in firefights he unanticipated can only have erred big. For that SAF Dir. Getulio Napeñas will be punished, just like the Army colonel who led 19 Special Forces trainees into fatal ambush, also by the MILF in the other edge of Mindanao in 2011.
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Here, meanwhile, are limited findings of the PNP probe of the botched operation. Readable between the lines is who alone will fry:
• Situs: Mamasapano, Maguindanao, 5th-class municipality where is stationed the Army 45th Infantry Battalion. In adjacent Awang and Sharif Aguak are the 601st Infantry Brigade and the 1st Mechanized Brigade; in Datu Sinsuat, the 6th Infantry Division.
• Units: 84th Special Action Company, 37-man assault force; mission: search and destroy Marwan, Usman. 55th SAC, 35 men, blocking force. 45th SAC, reinforcement.
• Locus: Barangay Tukanalipao, base of MILF 105th Command under Zacaria Goma. Nearby: 106th and 118th Commands under Wahid Tondok.? Barangay Pidsandawan: base of BIFF, Marwan, Usman.
• Timeline: 2002-2014: four attempts fail to serve arrest warrants on Marwan.
• 24 Jan. 2015, 2200 hrs.: Oplan Wolverine is a go; weather hazy; 84th and 55th SACs move towards targets, 45th SAC on standby. Total: 392 troopers.?
• 25 Jan., 0230-0300: 84th and 55th SACs, with local guides, enter Mamasapano, but do not inform 45th IBn checkpoint of objective.
• ?0400-0415: Noticing the strange-uniformed commandos, Barangay Tukanalipao chairman Esmael Hashim phones if MILF 105th Command was on tactical maneuvers and told of none.
• 84th SAC reaches Barangay Pidsandawan, assaults Marwan’s hut. Booby traps explode; firefight ensues in which eight SAFs are killed; Marwan neutralized, photographed, finger cut off for DNA test. Two bodyguards wounded; Usman escapes. 84th radios message to Napeñas and deputy Noli Taliño at Tactical Command Post: “Mike One bingo.”
• 0415-0430: Awakened BIFF rush to the scene. 84th SAC engages them in battle; two more SAFs killed.
• 0430-0500: MILF 105th Command, Barangay Tukanalipao, hears gunfire from direction of Pidsandawan at edge of Liguasan marsh and thinks it’s accidental. 84th SAC withdraws towards Barangay Tukanalipao to rendezvous with 55th SAC,
• 0500-0600: BIFF 1st Brigade ambushes and pins down 84th SAC at Sitio Inunug, Pidsandawan. Napeñas calls Lt. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, 6th ID commander, to inform of SAF operation to get Marwan, but no other details. Operational failure begins.
• ?0600-0630: 84th SAC runs low on ammo, meaning unprepared for long encounter because relying on 55th SAC. A team from 55th SAC maneuvers to aid 84th; bulk remains at rendezvous.
• 0630-0700:? Tukanalipao villagers after morning mosque prayers notice “armed men approaching” and alert MILF 105th Command. “Mis-encounter starts.
• 0700-0800: Spotting 55th SAC, MILF 105th sets up defense perimeter. They clash near rendezvous, a flat cornfield. 55th SAC notices MILF flanking movement but does not maneuver to outflank. Tactical failure begins. (Prolonged encounters with rebels require military, not law enforcement, operational tactics.) Suffering ten dead and 16 wounded, 84th SAC is unable to link up with 55th SAC. Local Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) is informed and convened. 55th SAC Sr. Insp. Ryan Pabalinas radios Napeñas for reinforcements.
• ?0800-0900: Clash heightens between 55th SAC and MILF 105th Command. BIFF and Marwan security join attack. 45th SAC tries in vain to penetrate and reinforce 55th SAC. Napeñas calls PNP OIC Dep. Dir. Gen. Leonardo Espina for assistance. Espina calls AFP West Mindanao Commander Gen. Rustico Guerrero, his PMA ‘81 classmate to help.
• 0900-1000: MILF 106th and 118th Commands pour in, forming with 105th Command pincer movements. 55th SAC decimated; 34 of 35 killed; only one escapes.
• 1000-1100: CCCH negotiates for ceasefire, but MILF in thick of battle. Army 45th IBn trucks prepare to move in to support, but receive no details on location of friendly forces and who were fighting.
• 1100-1200: After being briefed, 45th IBn and 1st Mechanized assemble along highway to Tukanalipao. Survivor of 55th SAC reaches 45th SAC. Belated ceasefire established.
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