Mamasapano probe: Noy not afraid to face truth

MANILA, Philippines - As senators prepare to resume investigation into the Mamasapano tragedy, Malacañang said yesterday President Aquino and his officials are ready to face the truth, the pursuit of which they have never evaded.

In a press briefing, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. reiterated that in the many investigations conducted related to the incident, administration officials had always cooperated.

“It only shows that in all opportunities, the government faced and is facing the truth and that is the important thing about the incident in Mamasapano,” Coloma said.

The Senate is set to reopen the Mamasapano investigation on Jan. 25, the first anniversary of the incident.

Coloma said there had been exhaustive discussions on the issue during the various probes conducted by the Senate itself, the Philippine National Police-Board of Inquiry, the House of Representatives, the Commission on Human Rights, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Department of Justice, which filed charges against those allegedly responsible for the brutal killing of 44 members of the Special Action Force.

Coloma also said the reopening of the Mamasapano investigation at the Senate should not affect the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law.

The government aims to have the BBL passed to fully push forward the peace process in Mindanao.

“It is also the legislators’ duty to uphold the process while performing other duties such as conducting investigations,” Coloma said.

The BBL is one of the casualties of the Mamasapano incident due to the MILF’s involvement in the carnage. 

The SAF members were on a mission to capture or immobilize wanted terrorists.

“The most important thing in all of these is to find out the truth and serve justice (to the SAF 44),” Coloma said.

“In all opportunities, the government had been honest and truthful. All questions were faced and answered,” he said.

Coloma said President Aquino himself addressed the nation several times to answer the questions involving the Mamasapano operation.

New developments

In September, Coloma said Aquino himself announced that there were new developments regarding the Mamasapano issue and that within the same week, they were tackled.

Coloma was apparently referring to the so-called alternative truth or version of the incident wherein the SAF 44’s accomplishment of the mission to kill Malaysian terror suspect Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan was put in question.

But Aquino himself declared later that based on evidence, there was no doubt the SAF commandos were indeed the ones who neutralized Marwan.

The President maintained he was not given accurate information to make the correct decisions when the operation to arrest Marwan and another suspected international terrorist, Abdul Basit Usman, was carried out. Usman was killed in another operation in May last year.

The President was taken to task for allowing then suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima to lead the operation along with then SAF commander Director Getulio Napeñas. Aquino said he asked the two to coordinate the operation with authorities, including the military, but was disobeyed.

Aquino also said his side of the story must be considered even as he noted that he was responsible for all police and military operations being the commander-in-chief.

The Office of the Ombudsman absolved Aquino of any liability related to the Mamasapano operation while charges were recommended against Purisima, Napeñas and other police officials.

Not at fault

The draft of the House report on the matter also said the President was not at fault because the officials on the ground lied to him about what was really going on during the operation.

But the Senate found the President “ultimately responsible” for the incident while the Board of Inquiry said he broke the chain of command, which the Palace disputed by stating that Aquino’s orders to coordinate the mission were disregarded and the police, being a civilian organization, did not follow such a rule.

Napeñas had admitted he did not coordinate the operation with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) because there might be leaks.

Both the PNP and AFP said they learned from the incident since the military was accused of delaying the deployment of troops to help the SAF operatives being attacked by members of the MILF, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and a private armed group.

The Palace said it would not dwell on the possible motivations of the senators, particularly Grace Poe and Juan Ponce Enrile, in pushing for the reopening of the Mamasapano investigation.

 No effect on BBL

Senate President Franklin Drilon said the resumption of the Mamasapano probe should not interfere in the legislative work of the Senate, particularly in efforts to have the BBL passed.

Drilon said that he would not stand in the way of the desire of Enrile to reopen the investigation if the intention is to bring further clarity to the incident.

“If reopening the Mamasapano will allow our esteemed colleague Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile to ask questions that he deemed are important to ferret out the truth, then we support it,” Drilon said.

“But given the upper chamber’s extremely tight working schedule, I am really hoping that the additional hearings will not affect the Senate’s work on its continuing legislative priorities,” he added.

Drilon noted that the Senate has a lot of important matters to deal with when it resumes session on Jan. 18 such as the BBL and the proposed salary hike for public sector workers.

With the campaign period for the May elections also coming up, the Senate has very little time left to accomplish all pending matters.

“When we resume our plenary sessions on Jan. 18, we have only about nine full session days left before we again adjourn our sessions on Feb. 5,” Drilon said.

“I am hopeful that reopening the Mamasapano probe will not draw time, attention and energies away from our lawmaking duties,” he added.

“The Mamasapano incident had created an immense political storm that seriously affected the peace process which we had hoped would end decades of armed conflict in that part of the country,” Drilon said.

Justice elusive

Lawmakers from the Bayan Muna party-list group said yesterday the reopening of the Senate investigation into the Mamasapano incident should pin down the accountability of President Aquino and finally give justice to the victims of the carnage.

“The ghost of Mamasapano will continue to haunt the Aquino administration until such time President Aquino himself and the US government are found primarily culpable for the bungled anti-operations in Maguindanao,” Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate said.

“We welcome this Senate move led by Sen. Grace Poe to reopen the investigation on the bloody Mamasapano operations. More than revealing new pieces of evidence, however, we also hope that the investigation will finally provide justice for the victims,” Colmenares said.  – With Delon Porcalla, Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy, Michael Punongbayan, Jess Diaz