Acquitted military officer in Basilan bloodbath reinstated

MANILA, Philippines - Col. Alexander Macario, one of the officers charged for violating some provisions of the Articles of War (AW) in connection with the October 2011 Basilan bloodbath, was designated as the new Inspector General (IG) of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City, it was learned Thursday.

A member the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Sandiwa” Class 1985, Macario assumed his new position Feb. 27. He replaced Col. Ferdinand Quidilla (PMA “Matikas” Class 1983), who is designated as the new commander of the 402nd Infantry “Stinger” Brigade.

Last November, Macario, former commander of the Special Forces Regiment (Airborne) was acquitted by a General Court Martial for “insufficiency of evidence.” Also acquitted was Lt. Col. Orlando Edralin, former commander of the Special Task Force Basilan and Special Forces School. Both were charged for allegedly violating AW 96 (Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and Gentleman) and AW 97 (Disorders and Neglects to the Prejudice of Good Order and Military Discipline).

“[Col. Macario has] my confidence and he is the right person for this designation and I believe that he can equal or even surpassed what Col. Quidilla has accomplished,” 4th ID commander Maj. Gen. Nestor Añonuevo said.

Last January, the same court found guilty Col. Amikandra Undug, former commander of the Special Forces Regiment (Airborne), for violating AW 96 and 97. His case is on appeal before the office of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista.

At the same time, the court is still hearing the case of Lt. Col. Leonard Peña, former commanding officer of the 4th Special Forces Battalion, for allegedly violating AW 96, 97, and 84 (Willful or Negligent Loss, Damage or Wrongful Disposition).

The officers’ case stemmed from the October 18 daylong firefight of less than 100 soldiers against more than 400 combined Muslim rebels and Abu bandits in Barangay Cambug, Al-Barka town that resulted to the death of 19 soldiers and 14 others seriously injured.

The rebels were from the 114th base Command of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) led by Long Malat Sulayman and Furuji Indama, respectively.

The soldiers, who were in the area to serve arrest warrants of lawless personalities when attacked, did not coordinate with the Muslim rebels who were in peace talks with the government.

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Jaime Sinapit | InterAksyon.com | February 28, 2013 | Article Link

Officers behind costly, botched mission vs MILF to face court martial

MANILA, Phiippines - The Philippine military said Sunday it would put four senior special forces officers on trial over a botched mission against Muslim insurgents that left 19 commandos dead and almost scuppered peace talks.

Military prosecutors found sufficient evidence to warrant the court martial proceedings against a colonel and three lieutenant colonels, the armed forces said in a statement.

"The next step is the arraignment of the accused military personnel in the said case," the military said in a statement, without giving a date.

The four officers are accused of organising a flawed special forces mission to arrest a top Muslim militant in the southern island of Mindanao in October last year.

Investigations by army prosecutors found that half the 41 commandos involved in the operation were unprepared and had been in the area for an unrelated training programme.

The soldiers entered thick jungle terrain controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), triggering heavy fighting that killed 19 soldiers and several rebels.

The attack triggered bloody clashes that displaced 20,000 families in the south and led to the near-collapse of peace talks between the government and the MILF, which has been waging a rebellion since the 1970s.

The rebels accused the military of violating an earlier agreement to stay away from its known camps.

It was later discovered that the military's top general in the region was not told of the operation.

Both sides have since returned to the negotiating table.

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Agence France-Presse | InterAksyon.Com | April 30, 2012 | Article Link

Still no court-martial for 4 Army officers

Despite the recommendations of an Army panel, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has yet to begin court-martial proceedings against four Army commanders in connection with the Oct. 18, 2011 deaths of 19 soldiers in an encounter with Muslim secessionist rebels in Al Barka, Basilan.

AFP Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Jessie Dellosa received the panel’s findings at the end of January but he has yet to act on it.

In a phone interview with reporters Wednesday, Lieutenant General Emmanuel Bautista, head of the Army, admitted that the pretrial panel had recommended the case for military trial.

The panel, led by deputy judge advocate general Lieutenant Colonel Liberato Ramos, found enough ground to try four senior officers for negligence and lapses that led to the death of 19 Special Forces troops and the serious injury of 14 others in an encounter with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Al Barka last October 18.

The officers will be charged with “violation of Article of War 97 or conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline in conjunction with criminal negligence under Article 365 in the Revised Penal Code.”

Colonel Aminkadra Undog is the most senior of those implicated. He is the immediate former head of the Army Special Forces Regiment. Acknowledged for his successes in the field, Undog was decorated for his role in the 2003 capture of notorious Abu Sayyaf bandit leader Commander Robot (real name Galib Andang), who was killed two years later in a prison siege.

The others charged are Colonel Alexander Macario, former head of the Special Operations Task Force (SOTF) Basilan; Lieutenant Colonel Leo Pena, former head of the 4th Special Forces Battalion in charge of the troops deployed that fateful day; and Lieutenant Colonel Orlando Edralin, former commandant of the Special Forces Training School.

Most of the soldiers involved in the encounter had just finished a military scuba training course and were deployed in Basilan for the first time.

A ceasefire between the government and the MILF was in place at the time.

The MILF, which claimed to have lost five men in the eight-hour gun battle, had claimed their fighters raised their weapons because they were not informed about the military’s movements—said to be a police operation in the area.

Last month, the MILF announced it has suspended for three months its deputy commander in Basilan, Dan Laksaw Asnawi, and two other commanders it did identify for the Al Barka clash.

The MILF said it meted the suspension based on the findings of the Malaysia-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) that both the AFP and the MILF were at fault for not observing the ceasefire agreement.

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Dona Z. Pazzibugan | Philippine Daily Inquirer | March 29, 2012 | Article Link