House to invite P-Noy to Mamasapano probe

MANILA, Philippines - Congressmen are planning to invite President Aquino to their hearings on the Mamasapano incident on April 7 and 8.

Rep. Carol Jane Lopez of party-list group You Against Corruption and Poverty yesterday said she and colleagues from the minority bloc would ask the hearing committees to extend an invitation to Aquino.

“It’s better that the President clarify and tell all he knows about the police operation in Mamasapano. The people, his bosses, want to hear from him. They are not satisfied with his previous explanations,” Lopez said in a radio interview.

Malacañang, for its part, said the President is willing to cooperate with the House of Representatives’ investigation into the Mamasapano incident.

Officials, however, did not say whether Aquino’s personal appearance at the House is needed, given the separation of powers among the three branches of government.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Aquino did comply with a Senate request for him to submit his exchange of text messages with then suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Alan Purisima with regard to Oplan Exodus, or the operation to arrest two top terrorists in Maguindanao.

Valte said the President – through Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. – “gave his consent to a request from the Senate concerning the release of transcriptions of the text message conversations between him and Gen. Purisima” in the early hours of Jan. 25, “in keeping with upholding the dignity of the office and maintaining the principle of separation of powers and respect for a co-equal branch of government.

“We therefore leave it to the responsible members of Congress to arrive at a methodology that will aid their investigation, bearing in mind that the inquiry should remain focused on its primary mission: to uncover the truth,” Valte said.

In this manner, the process would not be abused by those who might be inclined to take advantage of the occasion to advance personal motives, she said.

“The pursuit of justice must be defined by a strong commitment to the truth. President Aquino has been unwavering in his support for truth seeking regarding the Mamasapano incident, and encourages any action that would contribute to arriving at the truth at the soonest possible time,” Valte said.

Fine-tuning the investigation

Lopez made the call for the President to appear before the House inquiry apparently referring to a survey showing that 79 percent of respondents found Aquino’s nationally televised speeches on the Mamasapano incident unsatisfactory.

Lopez and the opposition bloc led by Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora spearheaded the twin initiatives for the House to resume its inquiry into the Jan. 25 bloodbath and to postpone tackling the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) until the Mamasapano probe was finished.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and other House leaders agreed to the minority proposals, which were supported by more than 100 members of the majority.

Negros Occidental Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer, chairman of the House committee on public safety and order, said the members of the committee would like to resume the hearings.

Ferrer, who presided over the initial House inquiry on the Mamasapano incident, said the hearings might be held in an executive session to avoid disorder among the committee members.

Ferrer said based on his assessment of the reports of the BOI and the Senate, 75 percent of what was stated in the reports is reflective of what had really transpired.

He said copies of the BOI and the Senate reports have been distributed to committee members.

The House conducted its first inquiry on the clash last February but the hearings were suspended supposedly to avoid preempting the findings of the PNP’s Board of Inquiry (BOI).

Some lawmakers, however, believe that Malacañang was behind the suspension to protect Aquino, whose popularity has eroded because of his supposed mishandling of the clash.

Others believe the suspension stemmed from the boisterous and unruly behavior of some lawmakers who attended the hearing in the House.

While the Mamasapano hearings will be held on April 7 and 8, the ad hoc committee on the draft BBL chaired by Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez postponed the resumption of its work from April 6 to April 20.

“We still have time to finish our work on this proposed piece of legislation. We hope to present our report to the House when we reconvene on May 4 after the Lenten break and have plenary approval hopefully before we end our second regular session on June 11,” Rodriguez said.

Lopez said the Mamasapano hearings at the House would not touch on what the Senate and the BOI have investigated and tackled in their reports.

Lopez said she and her colleagues would focus on the gaps in the Senate and BOI reports on the operation of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) in Mamasapano.

As far as she was concerned, Lopez said she wanted to hear satisfactory statements from officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Mindanao and particularly in Maguindanao why they took 11 hours to help embattled policemen out on a mission to capture suspected terrorists.

“Was there an order from higher authorities for them to stand down in consideration of the government’s peace process with the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front)?” she asked.

She noted the claim of senior police officers involved in Mamasapano that Maj. Gen. Edmund Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao, did not allow early artillery fire support “due to the peace process.”

“As noted in the Senate report, if there was artillery fire during the early hours of the gun battle, even just blank rounds, some lives could have been saved,” Lopez stressed.

Pangilinan explained in congressional hearings that there are protocols that should be followed in the firing of artillery, like the availability of information on the location of friendly and enemy forces.

Such information was not immediately available, he said.

Military officials, however, denied this and claimed that they were not given adequate information about the whereabouts of the beleaguered police commandos.

The military said they would cooperate with the investigation of the Mamasapano incident when the House resumes its probe after Holy Week.

“We are willing to participate because they are our legislative body. They have a mandate to do and we just have to make ourselves available for whatever hearings,” AFP chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr. said.

A total of 44 policemen were killed and 12 others were wounded in a clash between the SAF and Muslim rebels in a remote village in Mamasapano.

They were on a mission to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, and his Filipino cohort Basit Usman.

Although they were able to neutralize Marwan, the SAF operatives figured in a firefight with the MILF and the separatist Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) as they were about to get out of the area.

Public outrage over the killing of the policemen and questions surrounding the President’s handling of the issue have blow up into his biggest political crisis.

The Senate report said Aquino was “ultimately responsible” for allowing then suspended PNP chief Purisima, who has since resigned, to handle the SAF mission to get Marwan.

The BOI also blamed Aquino for violating the chain of command by ignoring acting PNP chief Leonardo Espina and dealing only with Purisima on the Mamasapano mission.

However, Malacañang has objected to the BOI and Senate findings that President Aquino broke the chain of command.

Valte earlier said Aquino’s communication with Purisima during the planning and execution of the Mamasapano operation should not mean that he allowed the controversial police official to still function as PNP chief despite being under a six-month preventive suspension over corruption allegations.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the BOI report “stands as it is” and that the meeting between Aquino and PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director  Espina, BOI chairman Director Benjamin Magalong and BOI member Chief Supt. John Sosito – along with other Cabinet officials – allowed the President to clarify certain matters in the report.

Coloma also called the BOI report “independent and objective.”

Independent probe

Vice President Jejomar Binay, for his part, renewed his call for an independent body to investigate the Mamasapano fiasco, pointing out the results of the Senate and the BOI probes remain unsatisfactory to the public.

“Despite the gallant effort of the PNP Board of Inquiry, as well as of the joint committees of the Senate, to come up with investigation reports that could help us comprehend the truth about the tragic incident, it is easy to understand the limitations within which they had to labor,” Binay said in his speech at the 15th national convention of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in Cebu City.

“The conscience of this nation will not rest until justice is secured for the fallen heroes of the PNP SAF; and delivery of justice is possible only when our people see the whole truth,” he said.

Binay, however, did not elaborate on what he meant by limitations on the Senate and the BOI investigations.

Binay earlier suggested that the members of the fact-finding body include former chief magistrates, Church leaders and religious groups and eminent personalities.

“I have publicly called for the creation of an independent commission that will be capable of uncovering the whole truth about the tragedy, without fear or favor,” Binay said.

“I sincerely believe that the IBP can be entrusted to name a representative if one is created, together with equally credible non-government institutions such as the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and assist in the investigation work,” he said.

For their part, militant party-list representatives belonging to the House minority said they would focus on the involvement of six Americans in the SAF operation starting on the eve of the mission up to the day it was carried out.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said it was already established in the Senate and BOI reports that there were six Americans who helped then SAF chief Director Getulio Napeñas and his ground commanders monitor the progress of their mission.

In fact, the Senate report identifies one of the US nationals as a certain Al Katz, he said.

The same Americans were on hand to evacuate some of the wounded policemen on Jan. 25 using their own white-and-green helicopter, he said.

Despite these facts, Zarate added the Department of Foreign Affairs and US authorities still maintained the US was not involved in Mamasapano, though they admitted the Americans mentioned in the Senate and BOI reports were “private contractors” or “contract personnel.”

He pointed out the Washington Post article last Wednesday, quoting Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Pool, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense, as saying the six Americans were “contract personnel” assigned to a US anti-terrorism task force based in Zamboanga City.

He stressed that Pool’s statement meant the US was involved in the SAF operation through retired American servicemen described as military contractors the US anti-terrorism task force hired to help SAF, instead of deploying organic military personnel. – Aurea Calica, Helen Flores, Alexis Romero, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Danny Dangcalan