There will NEVER be Justice For the SAF 44 As Long As the BARMM Exists

The anniversary of the death of the SAF 44 has once more come and gone and with it the same empty platitudes about honoring them and calls for justice. But the fact is there will never be justice for the SAF 44. A former SAF chief lamented this fact. 

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2024/1/25/-justice-evades-SAF-44.html

Justice has not been served for the fallen commandos of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF), also known as SAF 44, former commander Getulio Napeñas Jr. said on Thursday.

“Not yet, was there a case filed against those people who killed the 44? Until now, not yet,” Napeñas said in Silang, Cavite during the National Remembrance of the Heroic Sacrifice of the SAF 44.

[Translation: I would like to see now a case be filed against the killers, because they killed, it was murder, they massacred, they killed those still alive... Do you think justice has been served if they still weren't charged?]

The Ombudsman filed charges against Napeñas, former President Noynoy Aquino, and former national police chief Alan Purisima due to command responsibility, but these were later dismissed. 

Meanwhile, the families of the slain troops are still seeking justice and struggling to accept what happened to their loved ones nearly a decade later.

[Translation: It's been a long time, but no one has been imprisoned. They just gave names. But what I want is justice for all SAF 44.]

Who does this man want cases filed against? There is only ONE group responsible for the deaths of the SAF 44, the MILF. The MILF says the slaughter of the SAF 44 was totally justified as they fired first and broke the peace treaty between the MILF and the Philippine government. 

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/03/25/1437257/milf-justifies-saf-44-slay

The police commandos fired first and broke a ceasefire, they used dead comrades as shields, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) did not coddle two top terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

These are among the points raised in the report that the MILF finally submitted to the Senate yesterday, in which the rebel group effectively justified the killing of 44 police Special Action Force (SAF) commandos and the looting of their firearms, equipment and personal effects on Jan. 25.

The MILF report was submitted to the office of Sen. Grace Poe, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs which investigated the Mamasapano incident.

While admitting the use of the high-powered Barrett .50-caliber sniper rifle, the MILF insisted that no unnecessary force or methods against international rules on warfare were used, and the MILF fighters used “their advantages to the fullest.”

“Reports about mutilation, beheading and willful killing are unfounded,” the report stated.

Chief MILF negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the report, based on the findings of the rebel group’s special investigating commission formed to look into the encounter, was submitted upon Poe’s request.

He added that the report was also submitted to Maj. Gen. Dato Sheik Mokhsin Sheik Hassan, head of mission of the International Monitoring Team in Cotobato City last March 22.

“We trust that this report is treated with fairness, and we hope that all the information provided therein will be helpful in your evaluation of the incident,” Iqbal said in the transmittal letter to the Senate.

The MILF admits they killed the SAF 44 but justifies it completely. They say the SAF 44 was in the wrong. Therefore they will not be surrendering the SAF 44's killers.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/03/03/1429644/iqbal-milf-wont-surrender-saf-44s-killers

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Tuesday reiterated that they will not surrender their members involved in the encounter with the Philippine National Police-Special Action Forces in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said in an interview with radio dzMM that surrendering their members to the government is not part of the ceasefire agreement.

"Someone died among them, someone died among us, why do they insist on me that there is nothing in our agreement, that if that happens, we will surrender our forces?" Iqbal said.

Iqbal further stressed that the MILF should not be blamed for the deaths of 44 police commandos during the armed encounter. The group also lost 18 of its members during the clash.

"We're not the ones to blame. They entered without coordination, full-battle gear, there was an encounter... and then after that, we were the ones?" the MILF chief peace negotiator added.

Iqbal also called on the public to look at the "big picture" regarding the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Several lawmakers withdrew their support from the proposed BBL following the Mamasapano incident.

"This BBL, it is key to peace, it is key to development and progress in Mindanao," Iqbal said.

The MILF earlier warned that a diluted BBL would only worsen the problems in Mindanao.

"Look at the big picture." And that is exactly what the government did. They did not halt the peace process and suspend the ceasefire. They did not halt passage of the BARMM law until the MILF men responsible for the death of the SAF 44 were delivered up. Instead the government went ahead and legitimized the terrorist group known as the MILF and anointed them respectable politicians and leaders of the new BARMM. 

The men responsible for the slaughter of the SAF 44 remain protected by the BARMM and the Philippine government does not care. They have not demanded the men be brought to justice and they never will.  During all the remembrances not a single politician condemned the MILF for continuing to proceed the killers of the SAF 44. The calls of justice for the SAF 44 and empty and meaningless. As long as the BARMM exists there will never be justice for the SAF 44.