Cayetano: Were slain MILF men really sleeping?

MANILA, Philippines – Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano questioned the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) report that a commando killed 4 of its men sleeping inside a mosque in Mamasapano. 

Cayetano dismissed the entire MILF report on the Mamasapano tragedy as “lokohan (deception) and one-sided” including the rebel group’s finding that the lone survivor of the 55th Special Action Company of the police Special Action Force (SAF) may have committed war crimes and human rights violations. 

In its report released on Tuesday, the rebel group recommended that PO2 Christopher Lalan be investigated for allegedly killing 4 MILF combatants sleeping inside a makeshift mosque, and an unarmed civilian in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 26.

One of the most vocal critics of the MILF, Cayetano said in a press briefing on Thursday, March 26, that the killing may be justified as self-defense “depending on the circumstances.”

“Unang-una, how do we know tulog sila? MILF na mismo nagsabi eh na 3 kilometers away narinig ang putukan. Ikaw ba ‘pag nasa area ka na iyon, nagpuputukan all around you, matutulog ka sa mosque, may hawak kang baril? Napaka-lousy naman,” Cayetano said. 

(First of all, how do we know they were sleeping? The MILF itself said that the gunfight could be heard 3 kilometers away. If you are in that area, with fighting all around you, will you sleep in a mosque with guns? That’s so lousy.) 

When told that the killing occurred a day after the clash, Cayetano said, “Early in the morning, there was sporadic fighting.” The MILF said the killing occurred past 1 pm of January 26. 

The senator compared the situation with a kidnap victim attempting to escape captors.

“If you were held captive and your captor is sleeping, you can’t punch your captor or shoot him? If you were kidnapped and your kidnapper is sleeping, is there no justification for you to get a knife to be able to flee?”

He added: “I am not clearing Lalan but let’s give everyone the benefit of the doubt.” 

Cayetano acknowledged that the MILF and civilians have human rights, adding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Commission on Human Rights (CHR) should investigate the incident. Yet he slammed the MILF for supposedly using the issue to its favor. 

“If there were 4 armed people sleeping in a mosque, and the mind of a combatant is that they are dangerous, that’s not murder so it depends on how you apply the law. But if the mosque was not in the battle zone, and the men were not armed, that’s murder. The problem with the MILF is that they are changing the facts to fit their conclusion that they are not at fault.” 

In interviews with Rappler, MILF members and families of the slain men also held Lalan responsible for the death of the 4 rebels in the Tukanalipao mosque, and the civilian.

The Senate and police Board of Inquiry (BOI) reports were silent on the allegation. Cayetano said this too was the MILF’s fault as it did not give the BOI access to its witnesses. 

The DOJ and CHR have yet to release their own reports on the clash but the human rights body promised to look into the MILF and civilian casualties. 

The Mamasapano clash is the worst security crisis to hit the Aquino administration. The mission to arrest terrorists in the MILF stronghold of Mamasapano went awry as elite cops were unable to withdraw, and Moro rebels and armed groups engaged them in a daylong firefight. 

The clash killed 66, including 44 SAF troopers, 17 MILF members, and 5 civilians. It sparked public outrage, and endangered the peace process with the MILF after 17 years of negotiations. The SAF violated coordination mechanisms under the peace process. 

‘Missed opportunity’ 

Other senators also criticized the MILF report. 

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said the MILF could have identified the man in the video seen shooting a wounded SAF trooper at close range. The MILF report said that the video “does not clearly show” the killer was an MILF member. 

“The bottomline is they do not control their troops,” Trillanes said Wednesday. “This was their opportunity to show they are objective, that they can discipline their forces but apparently they missed it.” 

Senator Jinggoy Estrada said Thursday that the MILF lost credibility in the peace talks. The senator is detained over corruption charges in relation to the pork barrel scam. 

“It is lamentable that the MILF failed to own up any responsibility in the bloody incident (except for failure of intelligence gathering) and conveniently blamed the SAF for the lack of coordination, whereas the PNP in its separate investigation honorably admitted to its own share of operational lapses and recognized command accountability up to the highest ranking official,” Estrada said in a statement. 

Despite the negative response of some senators, Senate local government committee chairperson Ferdinand Marcos Jr announced the resumption of the hearings into the Bangsamoro Basic Law on April 13. 

The bill is a key component of the peace process, and will create an expanded autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao to help end 4 decades of fighting and poverty. 

Cayetano cites think tank but…

To Cayetano, the MILF report “underestimated the intelligence of the Filipino people” as he maintained that the rebel group coddled Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, who was killed in the operation. 

Cayetano cited the study of the Jakarta-based think tank Institute of Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) to disprove the MILF report. The MILF said that as early as 2005, it ordered terrorists to leave its camps and communities. 

Quoting the IPAC report, Cayetano said MILF commanders Abu Hashim, Mugasid Delna, and Wahid Tundok protected Marwan from 2002 to 2006. 

Yet Cayetano did not mention that the same IPAC report stated: “Marwan’s career shows clearly how MILF leaders rejected the presence of foreign jihadis and tried to ban any activities that could threaten negotiations. They were not always successful and there were occasionally rogue commanders who provided refuge and other forms of support, but the message was clear that terrorists were not welcome.” 

Cayetano reiterated that he was not anti-Muslim or against the peace process. 

Still, in the same breath, he said: “’Di ko sina-suggest mag-all out war pero ‘di mo pwedeng tanggalin sa mesa na sabihin ng gobyerno na, ‘Handa kaming ubusin kayo ‘pag di kayo willing makipag-usap at makipag-ayos.’”  

(I am not suggesting we wage all out war but you cannot remove from the table that the government can say, ‘We are ready to wipe you out if you are not willing to talk with us and fix this.’) – Rappler.com