By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
More than two weeks after 44 Philippine police commandos died in a bloody clash with rebels in the country’s south, a suspended police chief has claimed that a staggering 250 rebels were killed in return.
At the start of a Senate hearing Monday, Special Action Forces (SAF) chief Director Getulio Napenas said the rebel group's combined forces "suffered at least 250 casualties in the midst of the firefight that took place almost the entire day."
To back up his claim, he detailed the background to the operation to root out a terrorist thought to be hiding with the rebels, accounts of those in the battle, and the ability of the "highly trained individuals" involved.
"They know what they are doing and know what to do in times of adversity and hostility," he underlined.
But both rebel groups thought to be involved in the incident - the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and splinter group the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) - were quick to shrug off the claims Monday.
Von Al Haq, vice chair for MILF military affairs, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Napenas' claims that commandos were able to protect their line and deliver heavy damage were nonsense.
"Maybe they also counted the rocks in the area?” he questioned.
Abu Misri Mama - a spokesperson for BIFF - said that his group had suffered just one fatality.
“Napeñas is a liar. Why would he claim that the SAF were able to kill that many people when they were already pinned down?”
Napenas was suspended Jan. 27, hours after top security officials had flown to Cotabato City, Maguindanao - the province where the attack took place - to honor the 44 "fallen heroes".
Government Secretary Mar Roxas has said that the government has formed a board of inquiry to investigate any possible operational lapses that led to the encounter.
The investigation will look into the culpability and liability of officers or men who led the SAF operation as well as the external liability of the attackers, he said.
The operation saw around 400 commandos descend on Mamasapano in Maguindanao to capture Malaysian bomb-maker Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, only to run into suspected MILF and BIFF fighters believed to have been harboring the fugitive.
The government and MILF signed a peace deal last year with the aim of granting greater autonomy to the Muslim-majority provinces in the southern Philippines, ending a decades-long insurgency that has seen 120,000 people killed.
The suspected involvement of MILF in the deaths has threatened to derail the peace process. BIFF, however, has vowed to sabotage the process and to continue fighting for full independence for the region.
BIFF spokesman Mama said Monday that his movement remained anxious, and was gearing up for possible government retaliation over the Mamasapano carnage.
“We are here waiting for them to enter our territory. And we will fight back and then run and then fight back again," Mama added.
"That is our principle as a guerrilla group,” he underlined.
