24 January 2016•Update: 24 January 2016
By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
A sister of a police commando among the 44 killed in a botched raid in the Philippines’ troubled Muslim south claimed Sunday that relatives of the officers were pressured to attend a ceremony
marking the tragedy’s one-year anniversary.
President Benigno Aquino III will award medals Monday to the slain Special Action Force officers -- known as the “SAF 44” -- during a commemoration ceremony in Camp Crame in Quezon City.
While the government has termed the Jan. 25, 2015 raid aimed at capturing a Malaysian bomb expert and his Filipino comrade a “misencounter,” the incident in Mamasapano township of
Maguindanao province has been steeped in questions and controversy.
The involvement of members of the country’s one-time largest rebel group, which signed a deal with the government in 2014, has also delayed the passage of a law aimed at sealing peace in
Muslim majority areas of Mindanao island.
Marilyn Tayros, sister of late Insp. Rennie Tayros, told ABS- CBN News on Sunday that the government has been pressuring families of the slain police troopers to attend Monday’s rites, but her
family had made their own private plans to mark the
anniversary.
"Three days ago, our family has been pressured to attend, free transportation and accommodation expenses, but we are far from Manila," she said, adding that her family would not abandon
their tradition of commemorating deaths together.
She underlined that it would be inconvenient for them to travel back and forth from their hometown in Zamboanga Del Sur province in Mindanao to the Metro Manila region.
Tayros also claimed that several widows of the SAF 44 had not been able to decline the invitation following personal visits from the national police, saying that those employed by the
government feared compromising their jobs.
On Jan. 25 last year, around 400 police commandos descended on Mamasapano to capture Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, who was killed in the operation, only to run into members of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and breakaway group the
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
In addition to the 44 police commandos, 18 MILF members and five civilians were killed in the event, which had threatened to derail a peace process aimed at bringing an end to a decades-old
conflict that has left around 120,000 people -- mostly civilians
-- dead.
The expected passage of an autonomy bill that would seal the 2014 deal between the government and the MILF has been delayed by at least ten months amid disagreements among
lawmakers, who have less than ten full Senate session days
remaining before adjourning for the general election in May.
Meanwhile, the Senate is set to reopen an investigation into the Mamasapno incident Wednesday upon the request of its minority floor leader, in a move Aquino has criticized as politically
tainted.
On Sunday, Tayros also criticized the government for waiting a year before conferring medals to the slain commandos posthumously, and for not dispersing the promised livelihood and housing
aid to their families, who have been receiving a monthly
pension and death benefits.
