Notes on the conduct of the investigation of the bloody Mamasapano encounter
Mga tala sa pagsasagawa ng imbestigasyon ng madugong engkwentro sa Mamasapano, Maguindanao
(there were reports of mutilation of the bodies, I do not know if these reports are true, but it brought me to produce these notes, on podcast. Mutilation, if shown to be true, are considered war crimes. Update: ABS-CBN’s Ciara Sembrano upon follow-up of Ted Failon reported that there was no mutilation of the bodies.)
Malacanang had imposed a complete news blackout on the bloody Mamasapano firefight pending an investigation and a meeting of the national security cluster committee… (this podcast plays automatically… or if the music clip in the widget plays, just click the play icon of this podcast)
Updated: About eight hours after this podcast was posted, or at noontime today, the DFA issued the following statement:
“The DFA reassures the public that repatriation efforts are on-going in Libya under Crisis Alert Level 4 (Mandatory Repatriation). At no point in time was it discontinued… Repatriation efforts are headed by Adelio Angelito Cruz, Chargé d’Affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli and leader of the Rapid Response Team. The DFA remains committed to the protection of our nationals in Libya as evidenced by the continued presence of core Embassy personnel despite the highly volatile security situation in that country … We reiterate our call to our remaining nationals in Libya to immediately get in touch with the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli and register for repatriation. The Philippine Government will shoulder the repatriation costs,” (inquirer.net)
inquirer.net further posted that: “To register for repatriation, Filipinos may contact the Embassy in Tripoli through the telephone numbers (00218) 918-244-208 / 914-370-399 / 945-348-481 and the e-mail addresses tripoli.pe@gmail.com and tripoli.pe@dfa.gov.ph.
“The Embassy’s address is KM 7 Gargaresh Road, Abu Nawas, P.O. Box 12508, Tripoli.
“Families and relatives of Filipinos in Libya may also call DFA’s 24-hour hotlines (02) 552-7105 / (02) 834-4685 to register their relatives in Libya for repatriation. They may also call these numbers for any questions and concerns, or send their queries by e-mail to oumwa@dfa.gov.ph. “
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(first posted at about 4:00 a.m. — very early in the morning): According to news reports, armed men on Wednesday seized a Filipino nurse in the Libyan capital, held her for several hours and raped her, medics and security officials said.
She was walking on her way home from work, according to reports.
Depending on the facts and evidence upon an investigation, the following may be pertinent:
Article 4 of Additional Protocol II of the Geneva Conventions;
Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War;
Article 8 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court … a discussion follows in the podcast below (which plays automatically) (image rightclicked from the United Nations website used here non-commercially for academic purposes)
