The Fallen 44 fought for 9 hours; reinforcements came 4 hours later – Mamasapano BoI probe

Nine hours. From just before 4 a.m. to shortly after 1 p.m. 44 police commandos of the Special Action Force (SAF) fought for their lives against several armed groups in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 25, according to the police officer who was the radio operator at the tactical command post for Oplan Wolverine.

 

Four more hours. It was only at 5 p.m. of Sunday that reinforcements from the Armed Forces of the Philippines arrived near the cornfield were 35 members of the 55th SAF Special Action Company lay dead, a SAF commander has said.

 

These accounts of Oplan Wolverine were received on Friday by the Board of Inquiry (BoI) investigating the Mamasapano clash. The identities of the radio operator and the SAF commander are being kept confidential for security reasons.

 

The radio operator said he was monitoring the SAF troops since 9 p.m. on January 24 at the tactical command post in nearby Shariff Aguak, GMA News' Emil Sumangil reported during the “24 Oras” newscast on Friday evening. 

 

Also at the tactical command post were sacked SAF chief Police Director Getulio Napeñas Jr., SAF deputy director and now SAF officer-in-charge Chief Superintendent Noli Taliño, the commanding officer of SAF's Rapid Deployment Battalion Supt. Abraham Abayari, other SAF officers, and the 43rd Special Action Company.


 

The radio operator also said the TCP did not receive any transmission for six hours after the operation was launched mid-evening of Saturday. 

 

Then at just before 4 a.m of Sunday, the 84th Seaborne assault team radioed in. The team's call sign was Main Effort One. 

 

"I received the first call 'mic one bingo'," the radio operator said.  "Mic one bingo" was the agreed upon radio code if the assault team killed the main target of the operation tagged as Oplan Exodus, who was the wanted international terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir alias Marwan. 

 

The police officer then received another call at 4 a.m., this time it was from call sign Razor or the 55th Special Action Company that was positioned in a cornfield, the blocking force of the assault team, and said that a firefight had started against the assault team.  

 

"I received the first incoming message from 55th SAC (call sign Razor), 'Nagkaputukan na ang Main Effort One," the radio operator said. 

 

After a few minutes, Razor radioed in again and said that they had sighted enemy combatants. 

 

The radio operator received the messages: "'May nakita na kaming kalaban" and "Palapit na nang palapit ang mga kalaban at parami na nang parami." 

 

It was at 6 a.m. that the clash against the blocking force started. The operator even heard the exchange of gunshots. 

 

"'Na-engage na kami.' I also heard gunfire [in] the background," the police officer said. 

 

At 7 a.m, the 55th Special Action Company asked for reinforcement from the tactical command post: “TCP! TCP! Reinforcement! Reinforcement! Marami nang kalaban at may sugatan nang tropa!" 

 

Napeñas then immediately ordered the radio operator to broadcast the alert message to other reinforcement teams around the area. 

 

After that, Razor still kept on transmitting messages to the tactical command post repeatedly asking for reinforcements and for the location and situation of the assault team. 

 

According to a SAF commander from one of the supposed reinforcement forces, it was impossible to help the 55th Special Action Company because they were also engaged in a firefight. 

 

"More or less about 11:00 am of same date, augmentation from 43rd SAC, SAB, Army arrived at our location to support our teams... to move closer to the location of 55th SAC. Massive firepower and advantageous position of the enemy and concealment at the available banana plants and to observe the environs. We did all our efforts and manuever but heavy gun fires from the enemy preempted us," he said. 

 

The blocking force called again at 1 p.m. Their message was: "TCP TCP! Mauubos na kami!!!" 

 

Then, radio silence. It was their last transmission, the police officer said. 

 

At 1:30 p.m., Napeñas asked him to broadcast to all units on the ground to cease fire. 

 

"Another team of deep reconnaissance company of Philippine Army arrived at our location to give assistance in order to help our troops move closer to the 84th SAC location purposely to extricate and rescue wounded SAF personnel," a SAF commander said. 

 

The authorities were able to retrieve 35 bodies from the 55th Special Action Company's position, while nine bodies were retrieved from the assault team's position.  — Trisha Macas/ELR/JDS, GMA News