‘Move to invite Noy to House probe meant to discredit him’

MANILA, Philippines - Efforts to have President Aquino face a congressional inquiry into the Mamasapano incident are meant to discredit him, an ally in the House of Representatives said yesterday.

“They know the President cannot be forced to attend the hearing, we can only invite him,” Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. said. “Maybe they just want to cross-examine him to create noise to hit him and continue linking him to the Mamasapano incident.”

Some lawmakers want Aquino to attend the joint hearing of the House committees on public order; and on peace, reconciliation and unity on April 7 and 8.

They include Youth Against Corruption party-list Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares and Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles.

He cited the case of Vice President Jejomar Binay, who declined to attend the Senate investigation into the various corruption allegations against him.

Barzaga also pointed out that the Senate was able to complete its probe on the Mamasapano incident without inviting Aquino.

Barzaga said he was not keen on resuming the House inquiry as the Senate as well as the Philippine National Police’s Board of Inquiry (PNP-BOI) have already released their reports on the incident.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. earlier rejected proposals to summon Aquino but said the chamber would welcome any information or statement he may want to give to lawmakers conducting the inquiry.

Congressmen belonging to the minority bloc are proposing certain parameters for Aquino’s testimony in case he agrees to attend a House hearing on Mamasapano.

“For orderly proceedings, we are suggesting that questions to the President be coursed through the Speaker and the minority leader,” Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said yesterday.

“Questions from members of the majority will be handled by Speaker (Feliciano) Belmonte and those from us in the minority will be asked by our boss in the minority, Congressman (Ronaldo) Zamora,” he said.

He said only Belmonte and Zamora would be allowed to ask questions “for the sake of orderliness and to prevent anyone from disrespecting the President.”

A massacre, unmistakably

 Sen. Grace Poe, meanwhile, scoffed at the Commission on Human Rights’ debunking Senate findings that what happened in Mamasapano was a massacre.

“The attribution of massacre refers to the use of excessive force and ignominy which attended the finishing touches inflicted on the SAF troopers when they were already gravely injured but breathing as they lay defenseless on the Mamasapano cornfields,” Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, said.

CHR Chairman Loretta Ann Rosales recently called the “massacre” tag on the Mamasapano incident “excessive.”

Poe said the report she released last week containing the Senate findings was based primarily on testimonies made under oath and on documents and reports submitted officially.

“A contrary view of the CHR chairman notwithstanding, we welcome her submission of the CHR report on its own investigation on the incident which may still be considered on amendments,” she added.

Sen. Francis Escudero joined Poe in criticizing the CHR. “Does the CHR deem our government troops to have no human rights? What happened was a clear massacre,” Escudero said.

“The dictionary defines massacre as ‘the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty.’ Exactly how it happened to our SAF men in Mamasapano, unless our CHR defines it in another term,” he said. – With Marvin Sy, Janvic Mateo, Jess Diaz, Jaime Laude, Cecille Suerte Felipe