COTABATO CITY — Police detained a suspect in the 2015 Mamasapano incident here on Wednesday as he was seeking clearance from the city police office.
Police Sr. Supt. Rolly Octavio, city police director, identified the suspect as Alex Ampatuan, a local resident.
“We had his records checked as he was seeking for police clearance and his name appeared in our computer list of wanted people,” Supt. Octavio said.
A relative of the suspect, however, claimed in a text message sent through a local radio station that Ampatuan’s arrest could have been a case of mistaken identity, as “Alex does not even know how to hold a gun.”
Octavio said further verification would be initiated on the background of the suspect, pending a court order to arrest him in connection with the tragic Jan. 25, 2015 incident in Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
At least 44 members of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) police unit were killed in a clash against joint Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces on efforts to get wanted Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, otherwise known as Marwan.
The SAF members managed to neutralize Marwan in the dawn operation but were met by MILF and BIFF forces in the area while on their way out.
Police have filed cases against a number of BIFF and MILF members identified by sources for their involvement in the Mamasapano atrocity.
At the time, Marwan’s head carried a US$5 million and Php7.4 million bountry from the US and Philippine governments, respectively.
The Mamasapano incident, which also killed 18 MILF-BIFF combatants and five civilians, has derailed peace talks between government and MILF after Congress halted the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL)—a bill seeking for the establishment of the MILF-led Bangsamoro entity that would replace and expand the old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao set up.
The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte has maintained peace overtures with the MILF through the passage of BBL with preference to shift to federalism, a move seen to end the recurring decades-old Moro conflict in Mindanao. (Noel Punzalan/PNA)
