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“Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the President and the government will make the appropriate action when it comes to explaining the Mamasapano tragedy and rectify the lapses that led to it,” reports Louis Bacani on Philstar.com.
In a dzXL RMN interview, Coloma said in Filipino, “Let’s just wait for his next move. Let us have faith that he knows his duty and that he will decide on what to do based on what he thinks is best for his ‘bosses,’ the Filipino people.”
The report pointed out that “Coloma gave the same response when asked why Aquino has not apologized for the fatal January 25 operation.”
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 have done probes on the Mamasapano 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: Gov.ph
