Mamasapano viral video uploader known, other videos to be probed too

After identifying the place where it was uploaded, the National Bureau of Investigation has now zeroed in on the identity of the person who put on the Internet the viral video of a wounded elite police commando being shot at close range to the head.

 

"The NBI has already identified kung saan nanggaling at sino ang nag-upload," De Lima told reporters Monday, but refused to reveal the identity.

 

Last week, De Lima revealed that NBI agents had already traced the place where the video was uploaded. The identity, however, of the uploader has not yet been identified at the time.

 

On Monday, De Lima stressed the importance of identifying who uploaded the viral video on the internet, since he or she could be summoned in court as a witness.

 

"Interesado ang NBI malaman kung sino ang nag-upload kasi ebidensya nga yan. And kailangan kasi, hindi magiging admissible yang evidence kung hindi ma-o-authenticate; there are specific rules on authentication," De Lima said.

 

"Kailangang kung sino talaga mismo ang kumuha nung video na yan, siya rin ang dapat magtestigo," she added.

 

De Lima said investigators are determining whether the one who uploaded the video was the one who took the video itself and was seen shooting the victim, or whether it was a "secondary source" who put it online.

 

"Now, ang medyo kumplikado rito is because kung siya ang kumuha—kasi, mukhang siya yun eh, yung nakatsinelas. I'm referring to the first video—involved siya dun sa mga ganung ginawa nila, na pagpatay na parang summary execution, yung pagkuha at pagnakaw ng mga baril at iba pang mga ano, so involved siya," said De Lima.

 

"So, because of that, he's probably involved in the whole incident. Baka posibleng makasuhan siya. So, will he be able to cooperate in affirming the videotaping, in authenticating the videotaping?," she added.

 

Meanwhile, De Lima said she has not yet seen other videos that were supposedly taken before and during the day-long firefight in Mamasapano.

 

"Pero lahat iyang (mga videos na ganyan), kasama kapag na-o-authenticate. Pero dapat ino-authenticate muna," De Lima said.

 

De Lima earlier said the video, once authenticated, could be used as evidence against the people behind the deaths of 44 police commandos who were serving arrest warrants against two suspected terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last January 25. The operation ended in a clash with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic  Freedom Fighters.

 

De Lima said the shooting, showing a wounded man twitching in pain before being shot, was akin to a summary execution.

 

She said that under the International Humanitarian Law, "circumstances" like an armed conflict cannot be used as an excuse to justify such "barbaric and cruel" acts that remain punishable by law.

 

An official of the Philipine National Police has already identified the man who was shot in the video, as well as the other uniformed men seen lyinf on the ground in the video as a PNP Special Action Force members. 

 

PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina, who earlier turned emotional in a House inquiry last week over the Mamasapano clash, vowed to track down the person who uploaded the video.

 

The MILF, however, has denied that the shooter in the video was their member. — RSJ, GMA News