PNP to probe alleged military turnover of SAF guns to MILF

The Philippine National Police (PNP) will investigate the military's alleged turnover to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) of the firearms of some of the Special Action Force (SAF) members killed and injured in the January 25 Mamasapano clash.

At a press briefing Wednesday, PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr. said the police's directorate for logistics will probe the allegation that was mentioned in the reports of the PNP Board of Inquiry and the Senate on the Mamasapano incident, where over 60 people, including 44 SAF members, were killed.

Both the reports mentioned that some of the firearms that the surviving members of the PNP SAF gave to the military's Division Reconnaissance Company (DRC) shortly after the police commandos were rescued on Jan. 25 ended up in the hands of the MILF.

"That findings [are] kailangang tignan at mabigyan ng masasabi nating paliwanag. We are not saying na may inaakusahan tayo, [I] am not saying na may nagkamali sa alegasyong ito, tapos sinasabing mali ang naging observation ng SAF trooper," Cerbo said.

Cerbo also said the observations of the SAF troopers may be valid, and would be taken into consideration.

Armed Forces chief General Gregorio Pio Catapang has already denied the allegation. “First of all, we are denying it. We do not take properties. That’s a violation, and knowing that this is a very sensitive issue we will not do that,” he said at a press conference on Monday.
 
Pages 40 to 41 of the PNP-BOI report state that some of the 16 firearms turned over by the MILF to the government on February 17 have been tampered.
 
“Upon initial inspection, police officials observed that the bolt assemblies of eight rifles were no longer the original parts. The barrel of one of the machine guns bears no serial number. Officials noted that the weapons had been tampered with,” the report said, adding that the accessories attached to most of the riffles were also missing. —KBK, GMA News