MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Wednesday maintained that the Mamasapano incident was a "misencounter" and not a "massacre."
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, CHR Chair Loretta Rosales said that the term "misencounter" was more appropriate for the incident since neither the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) nor the Special Action Force (SAF) intended to assault each other.
Rosales clarified that the CHR is for everybody and that the agency is willing to assist both the government troops and the Moro rebels if they ask legal assistance.
"This is the process of peace negotiations. You are dealing with elements that are outside the law, it's not easy. You have to take the extra mile," Rosales said.
She added that the peace process requires the government to look into the perspective of the rebels.
"Don't behave as if they were your soldiers because they are outside the law, they're not part of it," Rosales said.
Contrary to relieved SAF Director Getulio Napeñas's earlier statement that Oplan Exodus was successful, Rosales noted that the operation was defective from the start.
According to Rosales, it was not enough that Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir alias "Marwan" was arrested because the SAF should have done more intelligence work on the ground.
"It was a botched operation," Rosales said.
The CHR is scheduled to release its investigation report on the Mamasapano operation by the second week of April.
The Board of Inquiry, Senate committee and the MILF have already submitted their reports on the said incident which led to the death of 44 SAF commandos during an armed encounter with Moro rebels.
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