WITH the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claiming that the Special Action Force (SAF) commandos committed cease-fire and human-rights violations in carrying out their operation against Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and his cohorts on January 25, the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday said it is prepared to face charges supposedly to be filed by the MILF.
Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo, National Police Public Information Office chief, said: “We are more than prepared to answer their charges should they decide to file [charges].”
However, Cerbo said that the force is also entitled to file criminal charges against MILF members involved in the clash which killed 44 SAF commandos as this fact was proven by the Board of Inquiry conducted by the PNP and recommendations made by the Department of Justice.
“A lot of our people were killed, and it is only fair that we seek justice for our fallen SAF members,” he added.
Earlier, the MILF recommended an investigation to determine the liability of SAF trooper Police Officer 2 Christopher Lalan, the lone survivor of the 55th Special Action Company (SAC), who allegedly killed four MILF combatants while they were sleeping inside a makeshift mosque in Barangay Tukanalipao.”
The MILF report claimed that the Moro gunmen were fired upon by the SAF commandos belonging to the 55th SAC, killing two Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) members, Omar Dagadas and Ali Esmael.
The incident triggered a firefight between the BIAF’s 105th Base Command gunmen and 55th SAC troopers, who were in the area as blocking force for the the withdrawal of the assault team—the 84th SAC.
“The BIAF members later on construed that the uniformed armed men who attacked them were soldiers of the Philippine Army,” the MILF report said.
Christopher Lloyd T. Caliwan & Priam F. Nepomuceno / Philippines News Agency