[PhilStar] Philippine president Benigno Aquino III expressed confidence that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will not block the arrest of its members facing charges over the deadly Mamasapano clash.Aquino said, "I am very positive of this, they will as they have already demonstrated in the past that if there is a law enforcement operation they will stand aside. They will not hamper the procedure. But I would venture the guess that perhaps they will be even more than that. Again, they will not be a hindrance to our enforcement."
On Tuesday, a government fact-finding team filed criminal charges against 90 commanders and members of the MILF, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and militas over the death of 35 Special Action Force commandos on January 25.
The special investigating team of prosecutors and National Bureau of Investigation recommended the prosecution of people that included 13 MILF commanders and six BIFF commanders for the complex crime of direct assault with murder. The formal complaint read, "These 90 respondents acted in conspiracy with one another to attack, employ force, seriously intimidate or resist the 35 Philippine National Police SAF commandos, who were uniformed police officers and thus, persons in authority."
Aquino believes that most of the men will not appear for the preliminary investigation and will be issued arrest warrants.
Last week, the president presented findings disproving the alternative version of the incident that it was not the SAF troopers who killed Malaysian terror suspect Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, the target of the Mamasapano operation.