COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The International Monitoring Team (IMT) that oversees the implementation of the cease-fire agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said it would start its own investigation of the Jan. 25 clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, which claimed the lives of 44 members of the police’s Special Action Force (SAF) and 14 MILF rebels.
Malaysian Gen. Yaakub Samad, IMT head, said the IMT board of inquiry would start its investigation on Feb. 7 “to determine the real circumstances that led to the SAF-MILF encounter.”
The IMT is made up of representatives from Malaysia, Brunei, Libya, Indonesia, Japan, Norway and the European Union. It has been in existence since 2003.
Asked why the IMT would start its investigation 13 days after the incident, Samad said they had to coordinate with potential witnesses first.
The IMT’s inquiry into the incident would be done in partnership with the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities of the government and the MILF, according to Samad.
The IMT was instrumental in the disengagement that led to the retrieval of those who were killed and the evacuation of those wounded in the Mamasapano clash.
IMT’s Norwegian member, William Hovland, said it took them hours to establish contacts “due to lack of telecommunications signal in the area.”
Brig. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., government ceasefire panel chair, said the entry of IMT representatives in Barangay Tukanalipao during the firefight helped “deescalate” the situation and allowed other government troops to evacuate wounded policemen from the clash site.
Sen. Teofisto Guingona, meanwhile, sought the creation of a Truth Commission to conduct a thorough and impartial probe.”
“While I respect the planned creation of a PNP Board of Inquiry to conduct a probe, I believe the Maguindanao massacre has far-reaching consequences and implications which make it necessary for an independent commission to do the work. The massacre struck at the very heart of the nation and of the peace process,” Guingona, who chairs the Senate peace, reconciliation and unification committee, added.
Guingona suggested the Truth Commission be made up of “veteran statesmen” such as former Supreme Court Chief Justices Reynato Puno and Hilario Davide Sr. and former Sen. Wigberto Tañada. Edwin Fernandez and Charlie Señase, Inquirer Mindanao