DAVAO City––A hundred and two persons, among them three commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and two from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), will face charges of murder and theft in relation to the Jan. 25 Mamasapano tragedy that left 66 people dead––44 from the special elite police force, 17 from the MILF and five civilians.
The special investigation team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the National Prosecution Service (NPS) that conducted the probe on the tragedy recommended the filing of the charges.
MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal maintained that the process of filing charges against the MILF is “internal to the GPH.”
“Our forces merely defended themselves,” Iqbal said in a text message Wednesday afternoon.
GMA TV News reported that at least 102 individuals will go through a preliminary investigation by the Department of Justice for direct assault with murder of 35 members of the 55th Special Action Company (SAC) of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP-SAF).
The NBI-NPS special investigation team referred to the office of NPS Prosecutor General Claro Arellano the filing of preliminary investigation “wherein [SAF members] were found to be victims of the complex crime of direct assault with murder... perpetrated by the confederating members of the MILF, BIFF and private armed groups.”
Three months earlier, on April 16, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima announced in a press conference that criminal charges were being prepared against 90 members of the MILF, BIFF and private armed groups (PAGs) for the death of 35 of 44 members of the SAF.
De Lima made the announcement after receiving the report of the NBI-NPS on its Mamasapano probe.
The report covered only the killing of the 35 of 44 SAF members in the cornfields of Sitio Amilil in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano. (carolyn arguillas of mindanews)
