Mamasapano survivor pushes for continuation of peace process
“The true face of war is not that dead soldier or rebel on the battlefield. It is a mother fleeing home with a cartload of offspring, amid sounds of gunfire.”
A MEMBER of the elite Philippine National Police-Special Action Force who survived the clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province has initiated an online petition calling for the continuation of the peace process in Mindanao.
“I was part of January 25 Mamasapano operation to capture the terrorist Marwan,” the SAF trooper, who used the pseudonym Jason Navarro, described himself in the online petition uploaded on the international petition platform Change.org.
“I am a Special Action Force (SAF) officer. I lost 44 of my comrades and was wounded in battle. I will carry physical and emotional scars for life,” he said.
The clash killed 44 SAF troopers, 18 MILF rebels, and eight civilians, and left scores more wounded.
“Even so, I grieve to hear demands for “all-out war.” For I, too, am a child of Mindanao. In childhood, I watched the flight of thousands of people from nearby towns. Entire families desperately seeking safe haven, war having obliterated their communities.”
Click on the image below to view the petition on the change.org site.
PHOTO from change.org petition of Jason Navarro