Congress to investigate defective ammunitions and armaments of PNP

MAGUINDANAO PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES – JANUARY 25: Government troops reinforcement arrive on January 25, 2015 in the town of Mamasapano, Maguindanao Province, Philippines. Dozens of elite policemen were killed after a clashed with a Muslim rebel group. Lawmen would suppose serve the arrest warrants for criminals led by Malaysian bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir, known in military and police officials as Marwan, when the group clashed with the guerillas under Commander Guiawan of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation, the countrys largest rebel group engaged in peace talks with Manila. Thirty cops and five rebels died in the fierce firefight. (Photo by Jeoffrey Maitem/Getty Images)

MANILA — A congressional probe was sought by a senior House member on the reported acquisition and issuance of defective ammunitions and armaments of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to its operating elements, including the killed members of the Special Action force (SAF) in the Mamasapano, Maguindanao encounter.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo “Rodito” Albano III on Monday filed House Resolution 1909 asking the House committees on Public Order and Safety and Good Government and Accountability to conduct an investigation on the matter.

The defective ammunitions was part of the initial findings being conducted by the Board of Inquiry of the Philippine National Police to determine what went wrong during the firefight between police commandos, Special Action Force versus Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Albano wanted to verify the reports, stressing members of the PNP stake their lives and limbs as well as their future ”so their fellow Filipinos can live in peace, secure against the threats of lawless elements and spared from the fears for the safety of their families and communities foisted by terrorists and insurgents.”

He said reports claimed that SAF members who encountered the MILF and its breakaway group, BIFF last January 25, 2015 experienced defective ammunitions that jeopardized the lives of many policemen.

“Credible reports and testimonies of surviving members of the PNP Special Action Force in the tragic Mamasapano operations against notorious terrorists before the Board of Inquiry indicate the acquisition and issuance by the PNP, for the use of its operating elements, of various defective ammunitions and armaments such as grenades, grenade launchers and the like that deprived the PNP operating force with the needed capability to fight back lawless elements and minimize the loss of lives among its forces,” Albano stressed in a resolution.

“The acquisition, issuance and use of defective armaments and ammunitions condemns the PNP’s operating forces to helplessness and ineffectiveness in ensuring that our communities are protected from criminals, terrorists and other lawless elements and incapacitates themfrom preventing unnecessary losses of lives and limbs among their ranks,” the resolution added.