From a distance

WE ARE REPRINTING this article originally titled “MILF guerrillas watch from a distance as PNP Board of Inquiry visits encounter site” first published on the website of MindaNews on February 25, 2015.

SITIO ALILING, Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao (MindaNews / 25 Feb) –“Tingnan nyo, basta may coordinate,wala talagang problema(See, if there’s coordination, there is really no problem), Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander Haramen said as he and his men watched from behind a row of banana plants on Tuesday while members of the Board of Inquiry of the Philippine National Police (PNP) led by Director Benjamin Magalong walked across the cornfields where 35 of the 44 slain members of the Special Action Force (SAF) were found on January 25.

Unknown to the newly-arrived visitors, Haramen, operations commander of the 7thBrigade of the 105thbase command of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), and his men – all of them armed – were, earlier that morning, mingling near the river with members of the PNP who were serving as the advance security team. By noon, across the river, elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who helped escort Magalong’s team would line up to stand guard when the BOI team arrived.

Click on the photo to read the full article on the MindaNews website.

A MEMBER of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces watches from a distance from under the shade of a banana plant the arrival of the Philippine National Police’s Board of Inquiry on Tuesday, February 24, at the cornfields where the bodies of 35 of the 44 slain SAF members were found. MindaNews photo by TOTO LOZANO