I stand before you today to report on what we know about the incident in Mamasapano,
Maguindanao, last Saturday and Sunday. I do this not because I wish to preempt the board of inquiry
tasked to uncover the entire truth, but because you have a right to know what we have at this point.
On Saturday, January 24, a group composed of members of our Philippine National Polices
Special Action Force headed to Barangay Tukamalipan, Mamasapano, Maguidanao. Their mission was to
serve outstanding arrest warrants to two notorious terrorists who have long been pursued by
authorities, namely Abdulbbacit Usman and Zulkipli Bin Hir, alias Abu Marwan. According to the most
recent report of the NDRRMC, 44 of our policemen died in the process of fulfilling their duties, while 16
others were injured, including 3 civilians.
As President and as father of this country, I am greatly saddened that our policemen had to lay
down their lives for this mission. Without question, these people are heroes, they who willingly put
themselves in danger to address threats to our security; they who were wounded; they who gave their
lives in the name of peace. To honor those who perished, I am declaring a National Day of Mourning to
symbolize the sorrow and empathy of our entire country.
Marwan and Usman are not common criminals. There is a long string of outstanding warrants
for their arrest. There are no less than 8 outstanding warrants against Usman alone, while there are no
less than 2 for Marwan. One of the earliest warrants was issued in 2002, which means that they were
already being pursued when I was a member of congress. Allow me to clarify: When a warrant is issued
against an individual, all officers of the law are obligated to serve it. This is precisely why, since long ago,
our security sector, including the AFP, PNP, and NBI, has undertaken multiple operations to capture
Marwan, Usman, and other terrorists.
Their agencies are not always required to obtain my approval for each and every one of their
operations, because it would be impractical for them to wait for my clearance before proceeding. My
duty: to make certain that they are carrying out their responsibilities. There are times when certain
matters are elevated to my desk so that I may give guidance, give a more holistic view of the situation,
or explain its wider implications.
A few examples of this are: our response to rogue MNL elements in Zamboanga, the capture of
individuals high on our list of Most Wanted Persons, and the assault on our peacekeepers in Golan
Heights. In the Golan Heights case, the decision of whether or not to depart could not simply be left to
our battalion commander there. As the person primarily responsible for foreign relations, I had to be
consulted to make certain that we are likewise upholding our obligations to the United Nations.
Marwan is part of the Central Committee of Jemaah Islamaya, which was responsible for the Bali
bombing in Indonesia. In this incident, two consecutive blasts occurred, which meant that first
responders and individual who had not left the areas were also affected. 202 people died, and Marwan
was a suspect in this case. In Cagayan de Oro in 2012, Marwan attempted to replicate this modus; the
second bomb did not explode, as it was discovered ahead of time, yet 2 people still died as a result of
this incident. There are allegations that, in 2006, Marwans, along with Umbra Kato, led a plot to plant a
bomb to assassinate then-Governor of Maguidanao, Andal Ampatuan. Marwans membership in
international terrorist networks means that he has the capacity to acquire the knowledge, the
equipment, the funding, and the necessary safe havens for his fellow terrorists. This is why he was
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