MILF leaders were informed of SAF presence

On the morning of January 29, 2015, the remains of the members of the PNP Special Action Force slain in Mamasapano arrived at the Villamor Air Base. The fallen PNP SAF were accorded arrival honors, led by the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Mar Roxas, PNP Deputy Dir. Gen. Leonardo Espina, and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Catapang. (Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office)

MANILA — A barangay official revealed that he informed several officials of the the 105th Base Command of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front of the presence of the policemen, whom he mistakenly identified as Moro rebels.

He said in an interview for a local television program that he called to verify that they were not initiating tactical maneuver in the said area.

The confirmation was also verified by other community leaders near the Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano, Maguindanao where the encounter occurred.

“It was dark and we can’t see the patches on their uniform from a distance. We were also scared to go out and check,” said one of them.

The SAF members came to arrest two wanted terrorists, Malaysian bomb maker Zulkifli Bin Hir, also known as “Marwan,” and his ethnic Maguindanaon cohort Basit Usman.

The arrest, however, turned into a bloody encounter causing the death of more than 40 members of SAF.

Meanwhile, the MILF central leadership said they also lost several of their men during the encounter.