AFP continues airstrikes vs Maute group in Marawi

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) continues airstrikes against the Maute terror group to regain control of parts of Marawi City. - The World Tonight, ANC, May 29, 2017

source: news.abs-cbn.com

AFP blames lack of coordination for Mamasapano bloodbath

Purisima asked for help - AFP

MANILA – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) blamed lack of coordination between the military and the police as one of the reasons for the death of 44 Special Action Force (AFP) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last January 25.

At the Senate hearing on the Mamasapano clash, AFP deputy chief of staff for operations Brigadier General Angelito de Leon said there are mechanisms under the ceasefire agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government involving operations against high-value targets.

He said the mechanism calls for coordination among the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), AFP, PNP, MILF, and its armed wing Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces during the implementation of operations against high-value targets.

De Leon, in his presentation, highlighted this important protocol in the wake of the Mamasapano debacle, wherein the SAF forces went on a mission to carry out the arrest of Malaysian bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan without informing the military beforehand.

De Leon noted that ''when operating independently as a single force, PNP units shall take orders from its parent unit, but must coordinate with the nearest tactical unit of the AFP to ensure a coordinated and focused operations in the particular area."

Sacked SAF chief Getulio Napeñas admitted during the hearing that he informed the AFP about his men's operation only on the day of the operation.

He said he did this as previous efforts to arrest Marwan, which were done in coordination with the military, were bungled due to leaked intelligence information.

The AFP said it had a hard time responding to the reinforcement request as it was informed about the operation on the day itself. It said the SAF troopers were already confronted with a large number of enemies when the military was asked for reinforcement.

AFP's chronology of events

In the chronology of events provided by the AFP, Napeñas called GPH-AHJAG Chair Brig. Gen. Manolito Orense at 5:37 a.m. of January 25 to inform the latter of the raid.

Orense then called the Maguindanao police director to inquire about the raid, but the latter said he was unaware of it as well.

After Orense failed to contact his AHJAG counterpart in the MILF, Atty. Abdul Dataya, he called Col. Mel Feliciano, commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, to ask whether the latter was aware of the police operation.

Feliciano said he was not aware of the raid as well. It was at this point when Orense instructed Feliciano to provide assistance to the SAF troopers.

Five minutes after his first call at 5:37 a.m, Napeñas called Orense and told the latter that the SAF men were withdrawing and asked if they could be provided with assistance.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division commander Major General Edmundo Pangilinan, read at 6 a.m. a text message sent by Napeñas at 5:06 a.m. In the message, Napeñas merely informed Pangilinan of the ongoing raid.

At 6:11 a.m. Pangilinan informed Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) chief Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero of the raid.

But even before he was informed by Pangilinan about the raid, Guerrero already received a call from PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina at 6:04 a.m. During the call, Espina asked for assistance for his embattled SAF troopers.

Then, at around 6:05 and 6:06 a.m., Guerrero supposedly received two text messages from then suspended PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima. In the text messages, Purisima asked if he can call Guerrero.

Guerrero called Purisima at 6:09 a.m. During the conversation, Purisima supposedly requested support from the AFP units for the SAF men.

At around 6:10 a.m. Napeñas called Guerrero as well, asking for reinforcements.

Pangilinan also learned at 6:13 a.m. that the Army's 45th Infantry Battalion, through its commander Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Bautista, was not informed about the operation to neutralize Marwan.

This, even as Bautista said a certain Inspector Santos dropped by the headquarters of the Bravo Company in Barangay Nabundas.

Pangilinan then instructed Bautista to monitor the situation and take appropriate action. Bautista organized troops and at around 6:30 a.m. deployed one fire team at Meta Bridge, one squad at round ball of Poblacion Shariff Aguak, and one squad officer-led in Brgy Timbangan, Shariff, Aguak Maguindanao.

Pangilinan then received at 6:18 a.m. a text message from Napeñas containing the grid coordinates stating the location of the embattled SAF men.

Col. General Del Rosario, commander of the Army's 1st Mechanized Brigade, at 6:33 a.m., was told by Pangilinan to prepare reinforcements. Del Rosario replied: ''Noted sir. We have alerted units here at Brigade HQS."

The 601st IB, under Feliciano, also instructed Bautista to deploy men from the 45th IB who will route security from Shariff Aguak to the vicinity of Barangay Tukanalipao, the site of the clash between the SAF blocking force and MILF fighters.

At around 6:44 am, Del Rosario received a call from a certain Supt. Mangahis of SAF, informing that their troops were engaged in a gun battle in Mamasapano.

Del Rosario supposedly instructed Mangahis to report at the Old Capitol Compound in Shariff Aguak to give a briefing on the situation in the area of their operation and location of the SAF troops.

Meanwhile, the AFP said that at around 6:48 a.m., GPH-AHJAG chairman Orense's phone calls to his MILF counterpart remained unanswered.

At around 6:50 a.m. Del Rosario confirmed to Pangilinan that the raid was carried out by the SAF troopers, and that the latter needed help in extracting wounded cops.

Following a meeting at around 7:15 a.m. with SAF deputy commander Chief Supt. Noel Taliño and Mangahis, Del Rosario informed Pangilinan about the scenario on the ground and provided an action plan to extricate the SAF men.

IMT, CCCH come to the picture

At 7:30 a.m., Maj Carlos T. Sol, GPH- Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities head of secretariat, called William Hovland, a Norwegian member of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), to inform the latter about the incident. A Joint Ceasefire Crisis Team was then formed.

At around 7:31 a.m., Orense finally received a call from Dataya. During the two AHJAG officials' conversation, Dataya said he would inform MILF's Camp Darapanan regarding the matter.

At 8:20 a.m. Del Rosario deployed Army forces to secure the main supply route from Shariff Aguak to Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano.

Some soldiers were also tasked to reinforce and recover policemen from SAF's 55th Special Action Company heavily engaged in a gun fight in Tukanalipao.

It was already 9 a.m. when the Joint Ceasefire Crisis Team (JCCT) composed of representatives from GPH-CCCH, MILF-CCCH, Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Post (JCMP) of Kitango and the IMT, assembled at the IMT headquarters in Cotabato City.

The AFP said the ceasefire officials then started to move to Barangay Kuloy, Shariff, Aguak, Maguindanao to meet with Ustadz Zacaria Guma, Base Commander of 105th Base Command, BIAF-MILF and Ustadz Wahid Tundok, Base Commander of the 118th BC, BIAF-MILF.

Failed link-up
At 9:20 a.m. the AFP said troops from the 23rd Mechanized Company, 14th Mechanized Company and 62nd Division Reconnaissance Company tried to link-up with the 55th SAC, ''but failed because there was no contact and communication to them and it was open field."

At around 10:40 am, the 23rd Mechanized Company, 62nd Division Reconnaissance Company, and the other PNP-SAF troopers again tried to link-up with the 55th SAC, but this failed again as they were fired upon by the enemies.

Pangilinan, at around 10:54 a.m., told Napeñas that ceasefire officials were on their way to the clash site to stop the gun battle.

At around 11:08 am, Del Rosario told Pangilinan that the SAF men were about 1.2 kilometers from the highway of Mamasapano, but the downed SAF troops were not yet evacuated as the assessment of the area was not yet finished.

At around 11:45 a.m. the JCCT conducted an emergency dialogue with Ustadz Guma (105th BC Commander), Wahid Tundok (118th BC Commander), Mamasapano Mayor Benzar Ampatuan, JCMP Kitango members and other officials of Mamasapano in order to facilitate the ceasefire.

Combined Army, PNP forces fired upon

The AFP said at around 12:15 p.m., combined Army and PNP troops were fired upon in Tukanalipao by fighters from the MILF and its supposed breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

At around 12:45 p.m., Brig. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., GPH-CCCH chairman, called Napeñas and asked if the SAF men had already withdrawn from the area. Napeñas supposedly told Galvez that his men could not yet withdraw yet as they were still being fired upon.

At around 1:10 p.m., the JCCT arrived at the tactical command post of 4th SAF Battalion in Tukanalipao. However, armed men harassed the TCP, resulting in the damage of the front tires of three armored vehicles.

At around 1:45 pm, Pangilinan instructed Bautista to provide ''command and control'' to all army units deployed in the incident area. After this, Bautista established a tactical command post in Tukanalipao.

Negotiations for a ceasefire started only at around 2:18 p.m., when most of the SAF men in the blocking force were already dead.

''Sir, ceasefire na muna sa area. Wala na sporadic fires. Pina relocate ko DRC and SAF team sa may Hiway near the Wheeled Armored Vehicles (WAVs) para mag stop yun fired-upon sa DRC. (Co-located na yun DRC with WAVs sa Hiway now para wala muna putukan. CCCH/IMT in the area now,'' Del Rosario told Pangilinan through SMS.

Total ceasefire was declared at 4 p.m. and volunteers and vehicles were mobilized for the retrieval of casualties.

However, at around 5:15 p.m. the AFP and ceasefire officials learned that SAF's 84th Special Action Company – the group tasked to neutralize Marwan – was also engaged by the Moro rebels in a gun battle.

Nine 84th SAC troopers were killed.

Galvez supposedly informed his MILF counterpart about this. The latter said MILF forces had already pulled out and that the 84th SAC was in a BIFF-controlled area.

It was already 5:30 p.m. when combined troops started to move for the rescue and extrication operations.

At 5:35 p.m., Napeñas requested for artillery fire, and the 6th ID delivered three artillery rounds of white phosphorous for marking and reference.

Killed in action

The rescue and extrication of engaged SAF troops finally started at around 7:30 p.m. Ceasefire and local officials initially extricated five cadavers from 55th SAC, the blocking force.

Combined AFP and PNP forces linked-up and rescued 84th SAC troopers. At this point, they rescued 17 84th SAC personnel and retrieved 8 more bodies of SAF men. Eleven wounded SAF men were rescued.

Rescue and extrication efforts continued the following day, January 26, and at around 9:50 a.m., ceasefire and local officials recovered 14 more bodies. Another 16 slain SAF men, all belonging to the 55th SAC, were found at 12:28 p.m. and 12:46 p.m.

PO2 Christopher Lalan, the lone survivor from 55th SAC was rescued by Bravo Company of 45th IB at around 2:10 p.m.

The rescue and extraction operations ended at 2:36 p.m.

A wounded cop died at the Integrated Hospital Office at around 5 p.m. bringing the total number of SAF fatalities to 44.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

WATCH: Anatomy of the Mamasapano clash

The sequence of events on the night of the fateful clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao as told to ABS-CBN reporter Chiara Zambrano by the men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

21 soldiers still missing after 'Yolanda'

MANILA – Twenty-one government soldiers are still unaccounted for following the devastation of typhoon “Yolanda” in the Visayas last week, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff General Emmanuel Bautista said on Friday.

He said two soldiers were killed while three others were injured in the typhoon.

Military facilities in Leyte and Capiz were also destroyed.

The military has deployed some 15,000 military troops in the typhoon-hit areas to help maintain law and order.

An 81-vehicle convoy was also deployed to Tacloban carrying relief goods under the AFP's Bayanihan project.

Bautista, meanwhile, welcomed the call of some left leaning lawmakers for a ceasefire with the New People’s Army (NPA) in the devastated areas, but he said the matter is a political decision, and the AFP can merely recommend it.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

AFP orders take-out food for hungry soldiers

MANILA - As the fighting in Zamboanga City reached its 11th day, the question still remains - how is the military providing food to soldiers on the frontlines of the battle with the Moro National Liberation Front?

Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, chief of the Armed Forces public affairs office, admitted there have been some delays in bringing food to hungry soldiers fighting the rebels in 5 Zamboanga villages.

He also admitted that mess officers for some of the units might have a hard time finding a place to cook for the soldiers.

Earlier reports said some soldiers have asked Zamboanga residents for food since their own food supply is running low.

To solve the problem, Zagala said the military is buying ready-to-eat food from commercial establishments to feed the soldiers.

"We recognize na meron tayong ganitong pangyayari but it is not the intent of the leadership of the AFP na magutom ang ating mga sundalo. Alam natin na they are in the middle of the fight at kailanganag makapag-concentrate sa labanan," Zagala said.

He added: "As early as last week, we provided meals ready toe at mga pagkain although commercial na madaling buksan ng ating sundalo in the front para hindi na kailangang pumunta sa rear para kumain."

Zagala earlier said some of the soldiers might not have time to eat because of the ongoing conflict. He said some of the soldiers chose not to eat because of the mission.

"I'd like to say that although they do not eat regularly , it does not necessarily state that they do not have the necessary support. They do have that," he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Convicted General Garcia expelled from PMA alumni association

MANILA -- Convicted Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, former comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), has been expelled from the roster of the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association Inc. (PMAAAI), the group’s chairman Brig. Gen. Remy Tigulo said.

“In a resolution passed by the PMAAAI Board of Directors during its recent meeting, the Board approved the termination of the membership of Garcia for acts inimical to the interest of the PMA and the PMAAAI. He was member of the PMAAAI being a graduate of the PMA belonging to Class 1971,” Tigulo said in a one-page announcement released by the group.

The announcement came just a few days before the annual Alumni Homecoming at Fort del Pilar, home of the PMA, in Baguio City.

Tigulo said Garcia was expelled as a member from the group is in accordance with the “Rules of Procedure on the Suspension, Termination and Reinstatement of Membership” against members convicted of crime involving moral turpitude.

Two other alumni members -- Commodore Plaridel Garcia (Class ’59) and Chief Supt. Herold Ubalde (Class ’80) -- resigned from the group.

Garcia, together with 20 other persons, has a pending case of graft and corruption before the anti-graft court.

“He decided to resign without waiting for the final court decision on his case,” Tigulo said.

Ubalde, then director of the PNP Legal Service, on the other hand, was implicated in the chopper mess issue of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The issue involved two units of second-hand choppers sold as brand new by former First Gentleman Miguel Jose Arroyo to the PNP in 2009.

“Ubalde did not specify the reason why he was resigning from the PMAAAI,” Tigulo said.

Garcia is currently detained at the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) following his arrest in September last year at his residence in Quezon City after President Benigno Aquino III approved his conviction by a general court martial for violating Articles of War 96 (Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer and a Gentleman) and Article 97 (Conduct Prejudicial to Good Order and Military Discipline).

Garcia was found guilty by a military court in 2005 and sentenced to two-year imprisonment with hard labor for pocketing government money from the controversial practice of conversion of military fund. He was detained then at the Custodial Center of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) in Camp Aguinaldo.

His detention at ISAFP did not take long because he had to be transferred to the Custodial Center of the PNP in Camp Crame after he was ordered arrested by the Sandiganbayan on the charge of plunder.

Garcia was charged for plunder for pocketing P303 million of government money.

Prior to his conviction by a military court, his two sons were arrested in the United States (US) for trying to smuggle $100,000.

Just recently, the US embassy has turned over the confiscated amount to the government through Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

While in detention at Camp Crame, Garcia was able to strike a plea bargain deal with the then Ombudsman, Merceditas Gutirrez. He was allowed to enter a guilty plea before the anti-graft court to two lesser offenses, resulting in his release from detention early in 2011 after he posted bail.

The approved deal simply required Garcia to return more than half of his ill-gotten wealth to the government.

The fiasco has resulted in the resignation of Gutierrez to avoid impeachment trial in the Senate.

But on Sept. 29, 2011, Garcia was rearrested as per Aquino’s approval of his conviction by a military court.

source: interaksyon.com