PNP denies SAF men used dead troopers’ bodies as shields

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday denied that some  Special Action Force (SAF) commandos used their fallen colleagues as human shield during the January 25 clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

At a press briefing in Camp Crame, PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr. said the police's crime laboratory has no findings of such allegation, which was contained in the report of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the encounter.

"Wala namang findings na sinabi ang crime lab na nagsu-suggest na ginamit sila as human shield," he said.

Cerbo added that the Board of Inquiry report on the incident does not indicate such allegation.

"For the part of the PNP, hindi naman nabanggit sa BOI na ginamit nilang human shield ang kanilang mga kasamahan," he said, adding that the SAF commandos even tried their best to retrieve the bodies of their fallen colleagues.

"Hanggang sa huling sandali, hindi iniwan ng SAF troopers ang kanilang mga kasama," Cerbo said.

Citing the findings of the MILF, the Manila Times reported that some members of the SAF troopers used the bodies of their colleagues as shields during the gunbattle.

“The MILF men saw that some of the 55 SAC [members of the 55th Special Action Company] men’s bodies were found underneath one another as if purposely piled. They noticed that the dead bodies sustained multiple gunshot wounds,” a part of the report said, as quoted by the Manila Times.

“They realized later from the position of the dead bodies and the number of wounds of some of the 55 SAC [men] that some of them had used the bodies of their dead comrades as shield during the intense fighting,” it added.

More than 60 people, including 44 police commandos, were killed during the Mamasapano clash with the MILF and its breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

The clash occurred despite the peace agreement and ceasefire between the government and the MILF. —KBK, GMA News