Senate Mamasapano Report: 'Do not dictate to me what to do,' said Gen. Pangilinan to American

The draft Senate committee report on the Mamasapano clash said one of six Americans involved in the Mamasapano assault ordered the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division commander, Major General Edmundo Pangilinan, to fire artillery, but Pangilinan refused and reportedly told the American: “Do not dictate to me what to do. I am the commander here!”

“The testimonies of various resource persons, particularly during the executive hearings, provide indications that the US had significant participation in Oplan Exodus,” the executive summary of the Senate report read.

Oplan Exodus was executed by the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police to arrest at least two high-value terrorists: Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Adul Bassit Usman. Marwan was killed during the operation but Usman managed to escape together with other terrorists.

The US government had earlier denied participation in the planning and execution of Oplan Exodus.

In a report submitted to the Senate, the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said that based on their discussions with US authorities, they were able to ascertain that Oplan Exodus was 100-percent Filipino planned and implemented.

“The DFA emphasized that 'the only constitutionally restricted activity in Philippine cooperation with the US under existing agreements is that, they (US) may not and have not, in the case of Mamasapano either, engage in combat operations and which non-participation (of the Americans) in combat was affirmed by PDIR Napeñas,” the report said.

In one of the public hearings about the Mamasapano incident, relieved Special Action Force chief Director Getulio Napeñas admitted that the “U.S. counterpart” was involved in at least three aspects of operation – intelligence cooperation, training and equipment provision.

The senators said there is no indication that any of the six Americans participated in the actual combat of the SAF troopers with the members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) its breakaway group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the private armed groups.

The senators noted in their Mamasapano report that based on the testimonies of former PNP SAF director Gertulio Napeñas and the other resource persons during the executive sessions, six Americans were working closely with the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines at the Philippine Army headquarters located near the encounter site in Maguindanao.

Americans also provided surveillance to the PNP and AFP through their Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR). “TV monitors were brought in by the Americans to the HQ,” the report said.

Aside from the verbal tussle between Gen. Pangilinan and the unidentified American, the Senate report said also Napeñas told the Senate in an executive session that there was an American, a certain Mr. Al Katz, “handled the training” of the SAF's 84th Special Action Company also called as the “Seaborne”. The Seaborne was the contingent that killed Marwan.

Senators recommended that the executive branch particularly the DFA and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) Commission “consider taking steps to clarify and address issues regarding US role and involvement in domestic counter-terrorism and internal security”.

In its report released last week, the PNP Board of Inquiry, which  tasked to conduct a fact-finding probe on the Mamasapano incident, found out that six Americans were involved in the Mamasapano operation but they did not participate in actual combat.  — ELR, GMA News