PNP chief: SAF men killed Marwan

Director General Ricardo Marquez, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), rejected yesterday a claim of a party-list group that international terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, was not killed by commandos of the Special Action Force (SAF).

Marquez said they have already established that Marwan, who was tagged in Bali bombings that left more than 200 people dead, was slain by SAF commandos who raided his lair in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao, on January 25 last year.

“I’ve said this before, put up the evidence or shut up,” said Marquez.

“As far as we are concerned, we have strong, very very strong evidence that it was indeed our own people, the SAF, who neutralized Marwan,” he added.

Earlier, Mindanao partylist group “Anti-War, Anti-Terror” (AWAT) claimed that Marwan was already killed by his aide before the SAF commandos arrived in the nipa hut.

Based on the AWAT party-list claim, Marwan’s aide Datukan Singgagao was recruited to kill Marwan by then PNP chief Alan Purisima and top police spy retired general Charles Calima in exchange for P50 million.

Singgagao reportedly agreed and killed Marwan in the early hours of January 25. He reportedly cut off his finger as he would not be able to carry the entire body.

But on his way to escape, SAF commandos reportedly arrived and fearing that it could be a double-cross and he would be killed too, Singgagao fled but was shot dead.

The party-list group also offered to exhume the cadaver of Marwan, saying they know the location where it was buried.

But Marquez would not buy the claim of the group, saying a lot of versions also surfaced in the past.

“Whoever is saying that, they are telling lies. A lot of stories have circulated in the past already but there was no evidence,” said Marquez.

It was recalled that even President Aquino initially floated the idea of SAF not killing Marwan through what he described as alternative truth to the Mamasapano tragedy.

“On our part, we have sufficient evidence, not only through their (SAF) statements but through still pictures that our people were there on the ground,” said Marquez.

Marquez then challenged those claiming to have another version of the story to come up with strong pieces of evidence.

The party-list group, on the other hand, said they filed their report to the Senate before the reopening of the investigation but it was not tackled.