Marwan. PHOTO FROM FBI.GOV
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Inside a beachfront resort here, several Americans planned the botched Jan. 25 operations in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, which killed Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, but also left 44 police commandos, 18 rebels and four civilians dead.
A Philippine Daily Inquirer source who refused to be identified due to security reasons said the Mamasapano operation was “fully funded by the US.”
“The Americans, who have a secret facility inside the La Vista del Mar Resort, planned and funded the operation,” the source said.
La Vista del Mar Resort, located in Barangay (village) Upper Calarian some six kilometers from the city’s downtown area, is owned by the family of first district Rep. Celso Lobregat.
Lobregat denied knowing anything about the operations to get Marwan or accommodating American operatives to plan the secret operations in his hotel.
“I do not know anything about it,” Lobregat, in a text message to the Inquirer Thursday afternoon, said.
The source described the “facility” inside La Vista del Mar as having a blue gate and having been “occupied by the Americans and the biggest number of elite forces of the 84th Special Action Force Company.”
According to Joel New, the barangay chair of San Jose Gusu and a former employee of the resort, the facility belongs to Special Action Force (SAF).
“It’s a camp of the SAF and it is located beside the resort. They (SAF) do tactical operations training and swimming, including speedboat operations, there,” New said.
“Their trainers are Americans,” he added.
He said the Americans have also been staying at the La Vista.
La Vista del Mar Beach Resort. Photo from Zamboanga.com
The Inquirer source said that since 2010, “five Oplans” have been hatched inside the facility.
He named three of the Oplans as Wolverine, Transformer and Exodus, which was what the Mamasapano operation was called.
The source said the SAF’s 55th Special Action Company was trained to support the 84th company in executing Oplan Exodus.
“The training was no joke, especially for the 55th SAC. All their equipment were funded by the Americans. When they go to Maguindanao, an American, a supervisor of the La Vista facility, go with them. All the expenses were shouldered by the Americans,” the source said.
The source said he was sure the Americans were not the same US soldiers with the Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines (JSOTFP) based inside Western Mindanao Command.
“The JSOTFP has no direct involvement as they focused more on humanitarian missions. Those inside (the La Vista) were more focused on getting Marwan. They have funds, state of the art equipment and gadgets,” the source added.
He said the Armed Forces of the Philippines were kept in dark in the Mamasapano operation after “four failed Oplans,” when the military coordinated with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front any action made in the rebel group’s controlled areas.
“When the Oplans were implemented, Marwan escaped,” he said.
The source also said suspended Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima was aware of what was happening inside the facility.
“Purisima was here,” the source said.
The source refused to give more details as this would endanger not only “my life but as well as the others.” He said all he wanted was for Congress to “look deeper.”
“Because of the Americans’ obsession to get Marwan, many SAF men died,” he said.
The source said a total of 392 SAF commandos were sent to Maguindanao as early as January 22 — with 42 members of the 84th SAF Company (SAC) assigned to get Marwan and 36 55th SAC members to serve as blocking force.
The remaining 314 SAF members were to serve as reinforcement, the source added. “The 55th SAC asked for reinforcement from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.. These pleas for reinforcement were monitored by the Americans, but they did not do anything,” the source said.
The Americans, the source said, were focused on the 84th SAC “because they (84th SAC members) have what they (Americans) want– Marwan’s tissue sample.”
After killing Marwan, members of the 84th SAC cut a finger of the terrorist. The finger was used for DNA test.
The source also said the Americans used a drone to know the exact location of the 84th SAC.
“This is why even if the 84th SAC men were located deeper into the area, only a few were killed. But the 55th SAC lost all but one of its men because no help from the Americans arrived,” the source added.
“We can’t take this anymore. I hope my colleagues would get the justice they deserve,” the source said.
Of the 36 55th SAC members who served as blocking force, only PO3 Robert Lalang survived. The 84th SAC lost nine members.
During the retrieval operations, US forces helped extract the injured SAF personnel through the use of a helicopter. The Philippine Daily Inquirer saw this particular helicopter, a while and green aircraft, manned by four US forces.
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