Police Supt. Reynald Ariño, commanding officer of the PNP’s 5th Special Action Battalion, confirmed Wednesday that the man shot twice in an alleged video of the Mamasapano clash was a member of the SAF’s 55th Special Action Company.
Titled “Story behind of Mamasapano,” the six-minute video clip, which has gone viral on Facebook, was uploaded by a certain Zaldy Baldz Suson.
It showed a wounded uniformed man on the ground, still moving, being shot twice at close range until he was dead.
The video also showed the unseen attacker stripping other dead troopers off their gear and equipment.
During the House of Representatives hearing on the bloody clash earlier today, congressmen debated over having the video shown after Zamboanga City Representative Celso L. Lobregat cited it and asked Board of Inquiry head Police Director Benjamin B. Magalong and PNP Officer-in-Charge Deputy Director General Leonardo A. Espina to identify and confirm if the man in the video is one of the 44 fallen SAF commandos.
Espina said he has not seen the video while Magalong admitted having seen it but said he couldn’t comment on it pending verification. “I have seen the video last night. As head of Board of Inquiry, I’d rather refrain from giving out any comment. I won’t recommend for the viewing of this video until such time we have validated and authenticated it,” he said.
In the end, the Congress decided against showing the video.
However, relieved PNP-SAF chief Getulio Napeñas, who admitted he opted not to see the video when told that it was that brutal, said that a PNP officer could authenticate the video.
Napeñas then asked Ariño to identify the the man shown in the first part of the video.
“I saw the video, I can also identify the person in the video,” he said. “He is a SAF officer assigned in the 55th company” Ariño said during the hearing.
