Go (coco)nuts! Share this story with your friends.
They’re literally walking the talk.
“Putting behind them the spectacle of a public blame game between the leaders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) over the Mamasapano debacle, 400 soldiers and more than 800 cops on Wednesday, February 25, joined the ‘unity walk’ on EDSA to mark the 29th anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolt,” reports Jaime Sinapit on InterAksyon.com.
Brigadier General Joselito Kakilala, commander of the Civil Relations Service (CRS) of the AFP, was quoted as saying, “This unity walk of the AFP and Philippine National Police (PNP) in solidarity with the Filipino people is a manifestation that your military and police are here to protect the flag, people and country.”
The report noted: “The unity walkers proceeded to the People’s Monument at EDSA where President Noynoy Aquino presided at the rites. A mass was also celebrated by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.”
The encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan 25 left 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF) dead. The PNP-SAF troopers had been out to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman. Both men had bounties on their heads placed by the U.S. government: US$5 million for Marwan and US$1 million for Usman.
The operation turned bloody when members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said they had to fight back because the PNP-SAF had breached their territory. They alleged that they had not been informed about the operation to get Marwan and Usman. The hostile encounter lasted 11 hours. The MILF lost 18 of their fighters.
Both the government and the MILF are currently doing probes on the Mamsapano encounter to determine what went wrong, as the incident threatens the Bangsamoro peace deal. It has since been revealed that the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and even some armed civilians were also involved in the clash.
Photo: Philippine Information Agency-NCR
