SAF survivors irritable, won’t give testimony to CHR’s human rights probes

Survivors of the Mamasapano incident from the ranks of the Special Action Force have referred investigators from the Commission on Human Rights to the Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry, GMA News reported on Monday.

CHR information chief Marc Titus Cebreros said that the CHR was giving all due consideration to the situation of the SAF survivors, but added they could be cited in contempt if they continued to be uncooperative.
 

Cebreros, the secretary of the investigating team, said the SAF survivors were "irritable" when the CHR investigating team visited them at the PNP General Hospital over the past weeks.

 

He added that the survivors also told the CHR team to instead get their affidavits submitted to the BOI.

 

Even PO2 Robert Lalan, a sniper for the 55th SAF Company, was uncooperative, Cebreros said. He said while the CHR was considering Lalan's physical and psychological state, the team knew that the officer had already granted interviews to the media.

 

Lalan allegedly killed four members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and a civilian after the clash. The Board of Inquiry has said that it could investigate the claim but only as a "collateral issue." (

 

The CHR offered to PNP and SAF leadership to personally go to Camp Bagong Diwa this week and next to secure the SAF survivors' testimonies. 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, that relatives of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and civilians killed in the encounter are reportedly cooperating with the CHR.

 

The MILF has also promised to give them an executive summary of the group's own probe on the incident, Cebreros said.

 

The CHR panel will go back to Mamasapano conflict areas on Wednesday, after not being able to go there last week because of an all-out offensive of the Armed Forces of the Philippines against the MILF splinter group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

 

Cebreros said the CHR will make its report public "on or before April 25." —Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/NB, GMA News