Don’t share Mamasapano video, AFP asks netizens

MANILA, Philippines – The military is appealing to the public to stop spreading the video of the brutal killing of Special Action Force (SAF) commandos and respect their grieving families.

“If you get it, condemn the act by all means. But better not to share it to respect the memory of the dead and avoid adding to the pain of the grieving families,” said Armed Forces spokesperson Colonel Restituto Padilla.

“As responsible citizens, our curiosity must not get the better of us, but should compel us to realize the great sacrifices that your men in uniform have been experiencing in ensuring the peace and security of our land,” said Padilla.

Snippets of the video were shown in a congressional hearing Wednesday, February 11. A SAF battalion commander confirmed that one of the men in the video was among his men killed by Muslim rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Philippine National Police Officer-in-Charge Leonardo Espina cried at the hearing recalling that the medico-legal report showed the SAF troopers, although badly injured, were still alive, but were shot point-blank and finished off.

Malacañang Palace called the person who uploaded the video “heartless.”

Rappler ruled against posting the video and only used select sanitized screenshots. We did so out of respect for the dead men and their families. As a matter of editorial policy, we do not show video depicting moment of death. – Rappler.com