Two years on, the wounds of Mamasapano have not healed. And the reason is the same one that torments many people in this country who have lost loved ones to crime and terrorism: justice has been elusive.
At least in the case of the 2009 massacre in Maguindanao, the suspected principal perpetrators and many of their henchmen are detained without bail. In the case of the 44 Special Action Force commandos slaughtered in the same province two years ago today, all the killers and their commanders are still out there, laughing at the weakness of a state that seems to treat its own forces as little more than cannon fodder.
President Duterte has said terrorism is one of the top security concerns that he wants to weaken during his term. The terrorist enemies of the state are a ruthless bunch, routinely decapitating captured government forces and, as in the case of Mamasapano, even looting the personal belongings of the dead. Those who are deployed to confront this threat must be prepared not just to give up their life but also to die in a brutal way. If the worst happens, the state must have the willingness and capability to give them justice.
This is what has eluded relatives of the 44 SAF commandos, who were sent to Mamasapano, Maguindanao on a mission to capture top terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan. The terrorist was wanted for the deadly nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia in 2002 that claimed over 200 lives, and had a $5-million price on his head.
Yesterday as the nation marked the second anniversary of the slaughter in Mamasapano by combined elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, its supposed splinter group the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and members of a private armed group, the nation was no closer to getting the full picture of what happened. The MILF, which those behind the SAF raid suspected to be protecting Marwan, ignored then president Benigno Aquino III’s demands for the separatist group to turn over those responsible for the deaths of the SAF 44.
President Duterte has said the killings in his drug war are meant not so much to serve as a deterrent but as retribution. For those grieving the loss of the SAF 44, there is no retribution, no justice, and no closure.