Mar offers sympathy to families of slain SAF men in Baguio. At the Church of the Resurrection in Baguio on Monday, February 2, DILG Secretary Mar Roxas II consoles with Janet Carap, widow of PNP-SAF PO2 Peterson Carap, a Cordillera native and one of the 44 elite police commandos killed in the infamous January 25 Mamasapano clash. Carap asked Roxas to speed up the investigation and resolution to the ongoing probe on the police operation. Dave Leprozo
Forty-four police officers from the elite PNP-SAF were killed during the 11-hour firefight with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Sunday.
Authorities said 392 PNP-SAF members were involved in the operation to capture suspected terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, an alleged member of the dreaded Jemaah Islamiya.
The BOI expects to get statements from at least 420 individuals to complete its investigation, Magalong said.
Members of the panel are police director Catalino Rodriguez and chief superintendent Atty. John Sosito.
The Operational Audit team is composed of senior superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, senior superintendent Benigno Durana Jr., senior superintendent Robert Po, and chief inspector David Duarte.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas has said the BOI would look into the “tactical level” of the firefight and would determine if there were any operational lapses that led to what authorities called a “misencounter.”
PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, for his part, said the board would determine if the officers who led the SAF operations were administratively or criminally liable for the deaths of the elite police commandos.
The government and the MILF has an existing ceasefire agreement. The two sides signed a comprehensive peace deal in March 2013.
The operation resulted in the death of 44 elite police commandos, 18 MILF fighters and two civilians. —NB, GMA News
