MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Tuesday blamed the deaths of the 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos in the Mamasapano encounter on the alleged harboring of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) of high profile terrorists.
Father Jerome Secillano, CBCP-Permanent Committee on Public Affairs executive secretary, said the blame could not be solely shouldered by the lapses committed by both the police and military personnel in the operations against terrorists Marwan and Basit Usman.
"The death of the 44 SAF troopers should not solely be blamed on the lapses committed on the ground by government officials. More of it should be imputed on the Moro rebels because in the first place they did not even exude the sincerity to surrender a wanted terrorist but even coddled him together with the BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters)," the prelate told Church-run Radyo Veritas.
Father Secillano added that the ongoing probe by the Senate on the Mamasapano incident has been "one-sided" , with the absence of top MILF leaders at the inquiry.
He said that MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal's absence at the Senate probe could mean that the Moro leadership is belittling the effects of the Mamasapano incident on the ongoing peace process.
"In Iqbal’s absence, it’s going to be a one-sided account of the incident. It also implies that the MILF is downplaying the effects of the incident in the ongoing debate on the BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law)," he added.