AGFO wants ‘truthful’ probe of SAF tragedy

Saying it wants a “factual, truthful report clear of bias,” the Association of Generals and Flag Officers (AGFO) has strongly called for an “independent commission to investigate the Maguindanao operation” that led to an alleged “mis-encounter” with Muslim rebels, leaving 44 dead police commandos mobilized to arrest two most wanted terrorists.

It called for the creation of an “interagency body higher than the PNP” and with a civilian component, virtually casting doubt on the ability of an official police board of inquiry composed of police officers to conduct an impartial probe.

Retired Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, AGFO chairman and president, aired this call in an interview on ANC’s Headstart over government admission that DILG Secretary Mar Roxas and PNP Deputy Director General and OIC Leonardo Espina had not been informed of the covert operation in Mamasapano, which involved close to 400 PNP-Special Action Force commandos.

“The standard chain of command should be the President to the Cabinet Secretary to the PNP,” Adan told host Karen Davila. The President, as commander-in-chief, “can always inquire about the details of certain operations.”

Adan pointed out that a “mission with a high-value target such as Marwan should have been coordinated” with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the lead agency for internal security in Mindanao.

“Ideally (President) Aquino should have gotten advice from the Western Mindanao Command,” Adan said.

“In any operation, there must be an assessment of terrain, geography, forces involved, and equipment needed,” he added.

AGFO has about 800 members mostly star-ranked retired military and police officers who are veterans of the Mindanao insurgency and the anti-terror campaign against groups like the Abu Sayyaf.

It viewed the “heinous, barbaric massacre” as unjustifiable even under a peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is seeking to establish a Bangsamoro entity in the Mindanao heartland.

AGFO demanded the surrender of the perpetrators and the return of high-powered firearms and battle gear seized from the slain police commandos.

Adan, also a former Philippine Military Academy superintendent, said the MILF remains an “enemy” of the state. “We want Aquino to demonstrate more resolve in dealing with the Maguindanao clash.”

He said that while government forces “look at the MILF as a possible ally, yung kabilang grupo iba yung tingin.” He cited the Al Barka ambush of Army Scout Rangers in Basilan in 2011 and “many other skirmishes.”

Recent incidents also showed that the MILF has little control over its forces. “…It cannot, or has limited control over some of its forces and has rogue commanders over whom it has no real authority,” Adan said.

Meanwhile, MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, in an official statement, was quoted by the press as saying he has convened a Special Investigation Commission (SIC) to look into the bloody incident even as he kept to the MILF posture that government forces broke protocols to spark the bloody clash.

SIC would submit its report to the Central Committee as soon as possible. It is composed of the MILF Central Committee and Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) general staff. The BIAF is the armed wing of the MILF.