Filipino activists call for an investigation into the bungled police operation in the province of Maguindanao that resulted in the death of 44 elite police commandos in 2015. (Photo by Vincent Go)
Philippine Catholic bishops expressed support for the reopening of a bungled anti-terrorist operation in 2015 that resulted in the death of at least 67 people, 44 of whom were elite police commandos.
"The people, especially the bereaved, deserve to know the truth," said Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa. "There were lies and inconsistencies in the whole tragic affair," he said Oct. 24.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he wants to reopen the investigation into the incident "not really to prosecute people but just to know what happened."
In a speech in China on Oct. 20, Duterte said the "tragedy" was an example of how Filipino lives are sacrificed in a war not of their own making.
The police operation was launched supposedly to arrest two "high-value targets" wanted by the United States government.
Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, a Malaysian national linked to the Jema'ah Islamiyah terror group, carried a US$5 million reward for anyone who could provide information leading to his arrest
The United States’ National Counterterrorism Center said Marwan, an engineer, was believed to be a member of the central command of the regional terror group Jema'ah Islamiyah.
The other target was Abdulbasit Usman, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf terror group in the southern Philippines.
American soldiers were reported to have been involved in the 2015 police operation. Marwan had earlier been reported killed in 2012 in a U.S.-backed airstrike in Sulu province.
An investigation by the Philippine Senate early in 2016 revealed that American forces assisted the mission with intelligence support, training, equipment, humanitarian and medical evacuation, and investigation.
"Who got the 5 million?" asked Duterte in his speech in China where he announced the Philippines' "separation from the United States," both militarily and economically.
"Let us go for the truth. Let it out," added the president.
Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel in the southern region of Mindanao said the truth should come out in the investigation.
Archbishop Arguelles, former head of the Military Ordinariate of the Philippine military and police, said reopening the investigation would clarify the role of the U.S. in the police operation.
The U.S. government has denied the involvement of its troops. On Jan. 27, 2015, U.S. embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer, said their servicemen only "responded to assist in the evacuation of dead and wounded after the firefight."
