Sulu brutal killings probe to be held in CDO

April 8, 2008

By Lizanilla J. Amarga

The controversial investigation of the recent brutal killings of seven civilians and an off-duty soldier during a military raid allegedly involving American soldiers and so-called elite US-trained force in the southern part of Sulu is going to be held here in Cagayan de Oro city.

“We will not hesitate to subpoena those who are involved. They will have to come over here in Cagayan de Oro city where we will be conducting the preliminary investigation,” former Lanao del Norte provincial prosecutor now turned Regional State Prosecutors Office (RSP-10) Fiscal Jaime Umpa said yesterday.

The military in earlier statements insisted that the raid they conducted last February 4 was a legitimate operation targeted against Abu Sayyaf terrorists who were holding a kidnapped trader Rosalie Lao in Maimbung, Sulu.

But the seven civilians killed include two children, two teenagers, a pregnant woman, a seaweed farmer, a village councilor and an off-duty military soldier.

Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan vowed to slap criminal charges against the soldiers involved in the raid and immediately constituted his a special taskforce for this purpose. This prompted the military to also order a separate probe on its own.

But already the killings sparked massive protests from both local and international human rights organizations and civil society groups.

Umpa said Tan had asked Department of Justice Sec. Raul Gonzales to send in a panel of state prosecutors from Manila.

“I was very surprised when our Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales instead ordered me to head a panel and go to southern Sulu to conduct an impartial investigation, identify the perpetrators and file criminal charges against them,” he told this paper.

Umpa who just returned from Sulu told this paper that they have talked to Tan, gathered some information of their own and received the findings of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) regional director Jose Manuel Mamauag.

He said they will be waiting for the investigation report submitted by Tan and the CHR findings among others.

“We will then send summons to the military soldiers and those whom we believe can help shed light on this incident,” he said.

Mamuag’s probe findings include details on how the military troops attacked and plundered the houses of villagers in Maimbung.

He also confirmed that no Abu Sayyaf member was slained in the military attack but innocent civilians and recommended for the immediate filing of criminal charges against the soldiers involved in the raid.

The more than 50 soldiers who took part in the operation were mostly members of the so-called elite and US-trained Army Light Reaction Company and Navy’s Special Warfare Group.

But the Rawina Wahid, wife of the slain off-duty soldier, Pfc Ibnul Wahid insisted that she saw four US soldiers on a navy boat where the body of her husband was brought.

However, Gov. Tan said there were no reports that US soldiers took part in the actual raid as “they are all over Sulu training Filipino troops and engaged in humanitarian missions.”

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Written by admin · Filed Under Cagayan de Oro