Members of a religious group rally outside the Senate while the inquiry on the Mamasapano clash is ongoing on Monday. The group called for the scrapping of the Bangsamoro Basic Law in light of the clash that claimed the lives of 44 SAF policemen in the hands of Muslim rebels. (MNS photo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) -– Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said his men saved at least 28 Special Action Force (SAF) troopers in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last January 25.
Catapang said despite the delay in the deployment of reinforcements to the besieged SAF troops in Mamasapano, soldiers still managed to save 28 SAF men, composed of 11 wounded policemen and 17 unscathed ones.
”The soldiers saved 28 lives. It should be remembered too because if we did not [send reinforcements], then maybe it won’t be ‘SAF 44′ [but] ‘SAF 72,”’ Catapang said.
Catapang issued this statement amid the ongoing rift between the military and the police force, which lamented the alleged delay in the deployment of military reinforcements to the besieged SAF men.
SAF lost 44 of its men after being engaged by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in a gun battle last January 25.
The SAF men were deployed to arrest Malaysian bomb-maker Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and his Filipino cohort, Abdul Basit Usman, in an operation dubbed ”Exodus”.
Marwan likely died in the operation, according to the result of a DNA test by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Usman, on the other hand, managed to escape but was reportedly wounded during the SAF raid.
The SAF launched the operation without the knowledge of the military, following the “time-on-target” principle.
The military, for its part, has decried being blamed for the high casualty, saying the request for reinforcement came too late and the pieces of information, such as the SAF troopers’ whereabouts, came piecemeal.
Aside from the government casualties, 18 MILF men and at least 5 civilians died in the Mamasapano clash. (MNS)