AFP/Manila
A long, slow procession of coffins draped in the Philippine flag poured out of military transport planes in Manila yesterday, as the country mourned dozens of policemen killed in a botched anti-terror operation.
Marching to muted drums, uniformed commandos bore the numbered coffins of comrades brought home from the southern island of Mindanao, the scene of the worst loss of life by the country’s police or troops in recent memory.
President Benigno Aquino has declared a day of mourning today for the 44 men slaughtered in a cornfield Sunday when their top-secret mission—to catch or kill one of the world’s most wanted Islamist militants—went badly wrong.
The killings have sparked growing calls for retribution. Analysts warn this threatens a peace process aimed at ending the decades-long armed conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in impoverished Muslim regions of the mainly Catholic Philippines.
Relatives wept and hugged each other as a priest sprinkled holy water on the metal caskets, which were laid at an air base in front of a large national flag at half-mast. Cabinet ministers and lawmakers watched from the stands.
“As president and as father of this country, I am greatly saddened that our policemen had to lay down their lives for this mission. Without question, these people are heroes,” Aquino told the nation on television late Wednesday.
The president was absent from yesterday’s ceremony, attending another public event. His spokeswoman Abigail Valte denied suggestions the president snubbed the dead, telling reporters he was to attend memorial services at a Manila police camp today.
Two of the slain officers have already been buried by their Muslim kin.
Almost 400 police commandos had swooped before dawn in the operation to hunt down Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, a top suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings and one of the United States’ most wanted militants, with a $5mn bounty for his capture.
But after killing a person they thought to be Zulkifli, the commandos came under devastating ambushes by at least two large guerrilla groups.
Aquino said most of the casualties were sustained after they ran into the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which signed a peace treaty with Manila last year, and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, who are allied to Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Police say Zulkifli was killed in the operation, although there has been no independent confirmation of his death. Police said a second target, Filipino militant Abdul Basit Usman, escaped.
The MILF and civilians living amongst them suffered 16 dead or wounded in the fighting, said Teresita Deles, Aquino’s adviser on the peace talks.
The MILF maintains that it acted in self-defence and has vowed to pursue the peace process.
To cement the peace, Aquino has urged wavering legislators to pass a proposed law granting regional self-rule to Muslim regions in time for the end of his six-year rule in mid-2016.
But senators have warned the law is now unlikely to be passed by March as planned.
Deles told ABS-CBN television that the proposed law may face delays as “harder questions will be asked” in parliament, but said it was crucial for the legislation to go through.
“If you stop it now, I am sure a few years later we will say, ‘We cannot live this perpetual terror... our children can’t go to school, no hospitals can be put up there’,” she added.
Despite the bloodbath, she said the peace process was also continuing on other fronts, with Philippine government negotiators and MILF counterparts meeting in Malaysia on Friday to discuss the start of decommissioning of rebel weapons and forces.
Former president Fidel Ramos, who is a former military chief of staff, and top government and security officials, most wearing black arm bands, attended the ceremony.
Aquino was absent from the event and instead attended the inauguration of a new production plant of Japanese car maker Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, triggering criticism for failing to show concern and sympathy.
“Aquino’s absence ... speaks volumes of the president’s lack of basic respect for his servicemen,” said representative Terry Ridon of the Kabataan (Youth) party-list group. “His cold, unfeeling heart cannot even sympathize briefly with the families of the fallen officers.”
“It is truly despicable, especially for the commander in chief,” he added
Deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigal Valte said Aquino was not scheduled to attend the ceremony in the first place.
“The president did not skip the arrival honours today. It presupposes he was originally scheduled to attend it, which was not the case,” she said.
Valte said the president will instead lead services for the slain police officers today, which he had declared as a day of mourning.
According to defence secretary Voltaire Gazmin the massacre could have been avoided had the covert operation been carefully planned and co-ordinated in advance with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
He was reacting to accusations that the AFP did not reinforce or it took the military quite some time before coming to the aid of the embattled SAF team that at the time were already at the receiving end of the separatist MILF rebels, who were superior in number and masters of the terrain.
Gazmin confirmed that the 6th Infantry Division had received the SAF’s request for reinforcement but it was made too late or some three hours after the police commandos’ first engagement with the group of international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan,” a Malaysian.
“Their request for assistance arrived at 6pm when their first encounter with Marwan, which was at about 4:30pm [or] 5pm [or] thereabouts,” he said.
“Had there been time for co-ordination, what we feared would not have happened,” Gazmin added.
He pointed out that soldiers from nearby units or detachments were also securing certain areas and could not be simply pulled out on short notice.
“Such major operation needs careful planning because what we entered was a big MILF and BIFF camp. You need a bigger force,” Gazmin said.
BIFF is the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a breakaway group of the MILF.
A military source disclosed that the 6th ID has conducted a parallel investigation of the Maguindanao clash on orders of higher headquarters.
“There are sensitive issues, but one of our jobs is to take a look [at such issues].
Appropriate investigation is being conducted,” the source, who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said.
He pointed out that information was deliberately withheld to maintain the secrecy of the operation, considering the sensitivity of the targets and situation in the area.
“But it appears that the operation had no proper planning and they were not able to mitigate the situation,” the source said.
By “they,” he was apparently referring to military leaders.
The source noted that what made matters worse was that the reinforcement team did not know the exact location of the encounter.
“I understand that we were kept in the dark until it became something that we did not want to happen. When we knew [about] it, it was too late. We didn’t know also how to address [the situation],” he said.
Another source said the investigation would focus on circumstances surrounding the carnage, on the role of the AFP in the incident and on preparations for a congressional inquiry into the bloodbath.
“We committed no lapses. We just want to look into the gaps, the flaws committed so that it would not be repeated,” he added.
The source said the 6th ID sent six armored personnel vehicles and the 55th Special Action Company but were not able to enter the area because they did not know where exactly the fighting was taking place.
“Reinforcement teams were able to link around 10pm with the 36 SAF men who died,” he said, adding that many lives were saved despite hitches.
Members of elite Police Special Action Force carry the remains of their comrades from military planes.
