Miriam tells Napenas: You're a failure

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago called relieved Special Action Force (SAF) director Getulio Napeñas a failure over the bloody Mamasapano operation, but stopped short of saying that he is the one solely to blame for the fiasco.

At the continuation of the Senate inquiry on Thursday, Santiago lambasted Napeñas for citing "intervening factors" in the failed anti-terror operation that left 44 SAF commandos dead.

Upon questioning, Napeñas said that according to the mission plan, the assault force was supposed to reach the target at 2:30 a.m. but "there were intervening factors that happened along the way."

"That means you're a failure, you're incompetent, because you cite intervening factors. When you make a plan, there should be no such factors. The plan should proceed very smoothly, if not perfectly," the senator told Napeñas.

"'The currents were very strong, the terrain was worse than we thought.' Ang dami niyong rason dun. Eh kayo ang nagpaplano eh."

She said the problem with Napeñas is that he is assuming full responsibility for the operation. "I doubt very much your statement that you were in full control of that operation."

According to Santiago, what happened in Mamasapano should not be called an encounter but a massacre, saying the SAF troopers "literally walked into a trap" with their escape routes fully covered by enemy forces.

"That is why we call this a massacre, not an encounter," she said, adding that there was "direct and brutal" violation of the conventions of war on the part of the Muslim rebels.

The senator was pertaining to a video showing an unidentified man shooting twice a SAF trooper who was injured and no longer able to fight back.

"Kayabang-yabang na tao, in-upload pa niya sa Youtube, dahil parang trophy of war niya yan eh. Ganun ang klaseng kalaban meron tayo," she said.

ANC, February 12, 2015

source: www.abs-cbnnews.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

Regine on Kris: Walang sama ng loob

MANILA -- Singer Regine Velasquez is no longer keen on discussing her supposed rift with Kris Aquino, who supposedly unfollowed the singer on Instagram.

Based on some screen captures posted on the Fashion Pulis blog last week, Aquino supposedly misinterpreted some quotes about the death of the 44 commandos who were killed during an operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. Aquino thought the statements were from Ogie Alcasid and Velasquez.

"I do follow her. I wasn't aware (na in-unfollow ako ni Kris). It's not an issue," Velasquez said on Monday during the press conference of her upcoming concert "Ultimate" with fellow OPM icons Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano and Lani Misalucha

"Alam mo it's finished. I couldn't understand the whole thing. Hindi ko din naintindihan kung ano ba 'yon at kinwento lang sa akin ng asawa ko. Walang anything, walang samaan ng loob," Velasquez stressed.

Meanwhile, the four singers also expressed their support for President Benigno Aquino III, saying it's now time to move on.




"Kung ano man ang nangyayari sa atin and sa kanya -- ang dami na din niyang problema -- I guess ang pinaka-the best (song ay) 'Let It Go,'" Misalucha said.

"Sa dami nang pino-problema natin ngayon parang I guess tama na muna 'yung sisihan. Let's just all pray for our President, who's going through a lot, and lets's pray for the families of the fallen 44, and for our government. Madaming dapat ayusin pero siguro hindi ito 'yung time to point fingers," Velasquez added.

"Stop being soloist for once in your life, learn to harmonize," Nievera added.

Asked of his advice for the President, Valenciano replied: "If I were to give him one advice, seek council not from too many people but only from one who has put him and made him leader of the nation. There's nothing wrong in seeking counsel in the one who can give everything, what he needs and so much more. No matter how difficult things have become, there's only God who can see. Once he does that, there's more than what is amazing that can happen to him, to guide him and to help him make the right decision."

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

SAF commandos battle post-traumatic stress

MANILA - The Special Action Force (SAF) members involved in the Mamasapano clash received stress debriefing from their battle-hardened colleagues in the Marines.

“My unit has experienced bloody encounters in the past and this helped us connect with our comrades from the PNP [Philippine National Police]. They were able to unload most of the pain and this is important for people who are grieving,” Marine Battalion Landing Team-1 (MBLT-1) commander Lt. Col. Ronald Juan said.

Forty-two from the Police Regional Office-9, all comrades of the 44 commandos wiped out in the Mamasapano clash, talked about their experiences to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder.

Zamboanga City Mayor Bheng Climaco-Salazar, a qualified counselor, and Dr. Lolina Bajin also joined the stress debriefing.

Juan said “we could already feel the sadness” when the commandos entered the discussion groups.

“Based on the feedback of their battalion commander, the SAF troopers felt a sense of relief after the activity. We are very fortunate that our team was prepared and are capable to conduct the stress debriefing,” Juan said.

MBLT-1 is equipped with skills to facilitate stress debriefing after undergoing trainings and workshops under the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Capacities in Combat Operations.

MBLT-1 is also planning to facilitate psychosocial support for the families of the fallen commandos.

“We are just waiting for orders and also for a mutually applicable time to conduct the debriefing,” Jian said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Kris's statement shirts puzzle netizens

MANILA – Netizens have been hotly debating the statement shirts worn by host-actress Kris Aquino on two consecutive episodes of her program “Aquino and Abunda Tonight” early this week.

Some Twitter users believe this is Aquino’s way of responding to criticisms that she and her brother, President Benigno Aquino III, have been receiving in connection with the death of the 44 commandos in an operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

 On Monday, Aquino wore a white shirt which carried the message: “How beautiful it is to stay silent when someone expects you to be enraged.”

The following night, Aquino’s statement shirt read: “I’ve learned more from pain than I could’ve ever learned from pleasure.”

Meanwhile, a photo of satirist Mae Paner, popularly known as “Juana Change,” also wearing a statement shirt is currently making the rounds online.

Paner’s shirt seems to be an answer to Aquino’s Monday shirt. It reads: “How beautiful it is to be enraged when everyone begs you to be silent.”

Amid these criticisms on social media, Aquino had remained mum about the issue.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Aquino allegedly unfollowed Judy Ann Santos on Instagram after the "Bet On Your Baby" host posted about the death of the 44 commandos.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Suspended Purisima invited to Congress for Mamasapano probe

MANILA - The House Committee on Public Order and Safety has invited suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Alan Purisima and other top officials of the PNP and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to the investigation on the January 25 Mamasapano clash.

The Manila Standard Today reported last week that Purisima was one of those who authorized the PNP-Special Action Force (SAF) operation that led to the encounter with rebels.

The committee met Tuesday and agreed to set the hearing on February 11 at 9:30 a.m.

The committee had received letters from PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina and Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino begging off from the investigation today.

In his letter, Espina cited the need for the PNP to attend to the needs of the bereaved families of the 44 SAF members killed in the clash.

Batino sent a similar letter, citing the absence of the PNP.

Committee chairman Jeffrey Ferrer said, "My observation with two letters, it's valid reason... The leadership of the PNP will have also to attend to the needs of the family. In my point of view, in humanitarian consideration, I will grant the request and we will reset the hearing next week."

Ferrer told his colleagues that he immediately calendared a hearing after resolutions calling for a congressional investigation were filed soon after the Mamasapano incident.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, meanwhile, expressed apprehensions about possible schedule conflicts since the same resource persons will be invited to a parallel investigation of the Senate.

"There are parallel hearings in the Senate. As mentioned by the chair, this is really a very important issue. The whole country is watching. There are a lot of questions yet to be answered," he said.

Ferrer said, "Next hearing wala nang excuse. Dapat mag-attend na lahat."

House Speaker Sonny Belmonte had pushed for a joint Senate and House investigation on the matter.

Belmonte, in a text message, confirmed he has discussed his proposal with Senate President Franklin Drilon, who told him that he will take it up with the senators.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com