Update:Wrong radio frequency not true – Marine commander
Some Marine officers dispute report on radio snafu
Wrong frequencies prevented aerial bombing, strafing
by Victor Reyes
Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. has ordered a probe on the radio communications snafu that prevented bombing and strafing measures to aid a Marines contingent ambushed by secessionists in Al-Barka town, Basilan last July 10.
Fourteen Marines were killed, with 10 of them beheaded after the encounter.
AFP information chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said the probe would look into the administrative liability of the personnel involved in the snafu.
Bacarro said among those to be probed are Lt. Col. Felix Almadrones and Maj. Nestor Marcelino, the relieved commanding officer and operations officer of the 8th Marine Battalion Landing Team.
He said the officer who relayed the wrong frequency to the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) has been identified. He refused to name the officer.
The Marine inspector general’s office was tasked to investigate the incident on the recommendation of a military fact-finding body headed by AFP inspector general Maj. Gen. Ferdinand Bocobo.
Bacarro confirmed reports that the 1st Marine Brigade gave a wrong frequency to the WesMinCom, causing the failure of the aircraft to provide air support to the beleaguered troops.
Bacarro said the Huey, an MG-250 helicopter and an OV-10 plane failed to deliver firepower due to lack of communication between pilots and ground commanders.
Bacarro said the Huey helicopter was mounted with machineguns while the MG-250 attack helicopter was equipped with machineguns and rockets. OV-10 planes are capable of dropping bombs.
He said the aircraft used alternate or secondary frequency while soldiers on the ground used the primary frequency.
The aircraft supposedly hovered over the encounter site for at least three hours before returning to Zamboanga City,gucci replica bags, home of the WestMinCom.
Asked why the soldiers or pilots did not change frequency as they were not able to make contact,gucci handbags, Bacarro said: “You should operate on the primary only unless there is coordination for both to shift to alternate frequency.”
Marines Inspector General eyes raps for Basilan radio fiasco
By Joel Guinto
Inquirer.net
The Inspector General of the Philippine Marines is studying what charges — criminal or administrative — may be filed against those responsible for the “miscommunication” during the July 10 clash in Basilan that left 14 Marines dead, a military spokesman said.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro, confirmed a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, and Malaya newspaper that an inquiry led by AFP Inspector General, Major General Ferdinand Bocobo, found out that the 1st Marine Battalion headquarters in Basilan sent out the wrong radio frequency supposed to be used by air support UNITS from the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) base in Zamboanga City in communication with the troops on the ground in Al-Barkah town.
“There was some miscommunication on the [radio] frequency. This was recognized and the IG [Inspector General] recommended to the chief of staff to order the Philippine Marines to investigate some of the administrative liabilities,” Bacarro said.
The air reinforcements tried to contact the beleaguered Marines on a secondary frequency when the troops on the ground were operating on the primary frequency.
Under military rules, Bacarro said one of two units communicating with each other cannot switch radio frequencies without the concurrence of the other.
Thus, the UH-1H and MG520 attack helicopters, and OV-10 bomber plane that had come to the Marines’ assistance could not open fire, Bacarro told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.
Bacarro said it was important for the air support to contact the Marines to determine exactly where to fire since the airmen could not see the troops on the ground because of the thick forest cover.
Asked if the investigation would lead to possible court martial, Bacarro said: “It could be subject to criminal and administrative liability. There are also criminal liabilities.”
However, Bacarro could not say whether the air support would have been sufficient to turn the tide of battle. “I would say that an air component is an integral part of the operation. [If it was crucial] in this operation, I cannot say,” he said.
Of the 14 Marines slain in the seven-hour battle, 10 were later found beheaded.
Bacarro said the soldier who sent the wrong radio frequency to Westmincom has been identified, but there has been no word on whether or not he has been relieved from his post.
Earlier, the ground commander of the embattled Basilan troops, Major Nestor Marcelino, and his battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Felix Almadrones, were relieved from the Marine Battalion Landing Team 8 due to “command responsibility” and to give way to the IG inquiry.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has owned up to attacking the Marines,louis vuitton belts, who the rebels accused of encroaching on their territory in Ginanta village. But the rebels have denied beheading the slain troops.
An investigation by the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), jointly chaired by the government and the MILF, concluded that at least four Abu Sayyaf bandits beheaded four of the 10 decapitated Marines.
But while it blamed the al Qaeda-linked extremists for the beheadings, the CCCH could not explain why Abu Sayyaf fighters were at the encounter site, a supposed MILF stronghold.
Bacarro said the Bocobo panel did not seek to determine who was behind the beheadings.
On Thursday, joint police and military forces set out to arrest some 130 suspects in the July 10 incident.
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