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Sacked Special Action Force (SAF) chief Getulio Napeñas Jr. revealed Tue, Apr 7, he used a map provided by US counterparts for the planning and execution of Oplan: Exodus – the mission to neutralize terror suspect Marwan in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Jan 25.
Speaking before the House joint committee probe, Napeñas denied the claim of General Gener Del Rosario, commander of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Brigade, that SAF officials used a Google map to show the location of embattled troops during the January 25 mission.
He then showed lawmakers a printout of the map, covered in plastic.
“Hindi po Google map ito. Military [map]. Meron din siyang grid references. Enhanced na mapa po ito, up to the nearest one meter. Kinuha po natin sa US counterparts,” he said.
Napeñas said the map was taken two weeks before Oplan: Exodus was launched. He noted that Google Maps usually have old information.
He said he also used aerial photos taken by the Philippine Air Force to form a mosaic of the area where Marwan and the two other terror suspects allegedly resided.
For his part, Del Rosario said he saw a “different, bigger” map that was presented to him by SAF Deputy Director Noli Talino and Superintendent Michael John Catindig Mangahis on the day of the Mamasapano mission.
Napeñas’ revelation of the map bolsters previous reports that showed the involvement of the US in the Mamasapano operation. The US State Department had offered US$5 million for the arrest of Marwan, a member of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant group.
Forty-four police commandos and 17 Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters were killed in the January 25 incident, with both sides claiming the other side shot first.
A report by the police Board of Inquiry earlier disclosed that six Americans stayed overnight at the command post of Napeñas to monitor the exact location of Marwan. Napeñas and other SAF officers have admitted the Americans in the command post were in charge of real-time surveillance.
The former SAF chief also said he would give more details about the Americans in an executive session.
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
The encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan 25 left 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF) dead. The PNP-SAF troopers had been out to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman. Both men had bounties on their heads placed by the U.S. government: US$5 million for Marwan and US$1 million for Usman.
The operation turned bloody when members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said they had to fight back because the PNP-SAF had breached their territory. They alleged that they had not been informed about the operation to get Marwan and Usman. The hostile encounter lasted 11 hours. The MILF lost 18 of their fighters.
Both the government and the MILF have done probes on the Mamasapano encounter to determine what went wrong, as the incident threatens the Bangsamoro peace deal. It has since been revealed that the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and even some armed civilians were also involved in the clash.
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