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“Senator Bam Aquino said that there is no valid ground to demand the ouster of President Noynoy Aquino due to his alleged mishandling of Oplan Exodus that led to the killing of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) troopers last January 25 in the hands of Muslim rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao,” reports Bernadette E. Tamayo on Journal Online.
The senator stated, “I think an ouster, which means a coup, will take us back so many years.”
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.
Photo: WikiCommons
