Gazmin: SAF chief was ground commander

MANILA, Philippines - Relieved police Special Action Force (SAF) chief Director Getulio Napeñas was the ground commander who decided to go after two terrorist bombers in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Sunday, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said yesterday.

Gazmin, however, could not confirm if President Aquino was aware of the police operation from the beginning.

“I am not privy to that, but as commander-in chief, he is informed about them, especially those on high-value targets. Now, as to go or no go, that’s the call of the ground commander,” Gazmin said.

“I think the ground commander is police general Napeñas,” he added.

Last Sunday’s operation had been against “high-value targets” Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and Basit Usman, who have bounties of $5 million and $2 million, respectively.

The police operation, however, turned into a bloodbath when clashes erupted with forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano.

A total of 44 policemen were killed and 12 others were wounded.

Gazmin also justified the delay in sending of military reinforcements.

According to Gazmin, the military only got an appeal from the SAF team for assistance after the first encounter with BIFF guerrillas.

“The request for assistance came around 6 a.m. Their first encounter with Marwan was over,” Gazmin said.

“Our reinforcement from the 6th Infantry Division and the Division Reconnaissance Company arrived there at about 8:20 a.m.”

Gazmin said coordination among units took time because it required careful planning.

“Battalion forces are scattered because they are the ones maintaining the security at the main supply route so you cannot organize groups that easily,” Gazmin said.

He said the clash should not have happened if there was more time to coordinate troops on the ground.

“You cannot just pull out troops from detachments because they are also securing their area,” he said. “We were entering a huge camp of the MILF and the BIFF so we need a huge force.”

While the military forces were not able to assist the police commandos in the clash, they were able to retrieve bodies from the site.

The government has formed a board of inquiry to determine exactly what happened.

The MILF has also formed a special investigation commission to look into the events leading to the incident.

Military sources revealed that the Army’s 6th ID is also conducting its own probe.

The sources, which spoke on condition of anonymity, said the investigation would cover the “circumstances surrounding the carnage of the PNP-SAF.”

“We are doing this to prevent similar incidents and in preparation for the congressional hearing in February,” a military officer said.

Another source said there might have been an intention to withhold information about the operation because of the sensitivity of the targets.

No Plan B

Other sources said a two-hour delay in the timetable, coupled with the absence of a back-up plan, compromised the operation.

A police official said their superiors apparently failed to anticipate other factors in their operation.

“They thought they would just pick up the target and then it was ‘easy way in and easy way out’,” the official said. “They did not have any Plan B or C in case their Plan A failed.”

The first difficulty encountered by the SAF commandos was the high tide in the river, which they had to cross to get to their target area in Tukanalipao, where they believed Marwan and Basit were hiding.

Prior to the raid, another source said SAF men were given different tasks, with one group to proceed in the arrest of the targets, while the other groups were to provide cover and perimeter security.

“They were about to pull out from the area with their target when they got engaged,” the source said.

The source said Napeñas started alerting police and military forces in the area about their operations at around 4:30 a.m. He said more than an hour later, Napeñas was already panicky and started calling for reinforcement.

“Our men got engaged, we need reinforcement,” the source quoted Napeñas, who was then trying to contact other police and military commanders in the area.

The source said that as early as 6 a.m. Napeñas was already in the PNP-SAF command center in Tukanalipao, about seven kilometers away from the encounter site.

He added police officials who were with Napeñas started asking for contact numbers to call for an augmentation force.

“You can see in his face the devastation, knowing most of his men were already pinned down, fighting for their lives. He was so frustrated because he can’t do anything to extricate his men who were being fired upon by rebels like sitting ducks,” the source said. – Cecille Suerte Felipe