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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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MANILA – The reopening of the Mamasapano investigation should look into the role of the United States in the botched 2015police raid, a party-list leader said.
Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte, during an investment forum in Beijing, said he will order the reopening of the inquiry into the deadly encounter between the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The probe, Duterte said, will find out “what happened” and “who got the five million” reward for the capture of Asia’a most wanted terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan.
“Indeed, the public has not forgotten the SAF 44 and even our Moro brothers who suffered during the carnage… There should be an intensive probe on the role of the US in the said encounter,” said Kabataan Partylist representative Sarah Elago.
Elago noted that the PNP Board of Inquiry indicated in its report that US forces were present at the PNP SAF’s tactical command post prior to the Jan. 25 mission.
The presence of the American troops, the congresswoman said, shows the direct involvement of the US in the whole operation.
She also said the PNP’s board of inquiry report stated that the US assisted SAF with real-time intelligence is “inconsistent” with other findings that there was a “breakdown” of communications during the covert operations due to faulty radio devices.
“This can only mean one thing – the US forces possessed high-tech intelligence and communications equipment yet they did not share these equipment with the SAF. The US forces may have literally directed the operation through their computer monitors – safety tucked in the tactical command post – while they let the SAF to march through Mamasapano equipped with faulty radio equipment,” Elago furthered.
To explain the US’ role in Oplan Exodus that left 44 SAF troopers dead, the lawmaker said that US officials, including outgoing US Ambassador Philip Goldberg and the head of the Joint Operations Task Force-Philippines, should be invited to the congressional hearing./PN
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