Senators condemn gruesome killing of SAF troops as seen in video

Senate of the Philippines, Pasay City (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – Senators have condemned the gruesome killing of a member of the Special Action Force (SAF) as shown in a video clip that went viral on Facebook.

”We strongly condemn the gruesome killing and barbaric atrocities done to our Special Action Force members in Mamasapano, Maguindanao,” Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said in a press statement.

Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose committee on local government is hearing the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, said he cannot process what he saw in a latest video that has already more than 1.

5 million viewers.

”It is such a gruesome, horrible piece of video that I still cannot process it,” Marcos said in media interview.

The video showed how the attacker shot twice a wounded SAF man on the head.

”This really enraged me because you can see the SAF man was still alive,” Senator Joseph Victor ‘JV’ Ejercito said.

During the House of Representatives hearing on the Mamasapano encounter on Wednesday, Supt. Reynald Ariño, Commanding Officer of the PNP’s 5th Special Action Battalion, confirmed that the man who was shot twice was member of the SAF’s 55th company.

Aquino urged the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to surrender their combatants, who along with the forces of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) engaged the SAF commandos, resulting in the death of 44 SAF men in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Jan. 25.

”In the strongest possible terms, we call on the MILF to surrender the combatants and submit them to the appropriate processes of our justice system,” Aquino said.

Aquino also asked the leadership of the MILF to attend the ongoing Senate hearings.

”They should answer the difficult questions that plague our nation. The road to peace must not set aside justice and accountability,” Aquino said.