Chiz supports Senate plan to reopen Mamasapano probe

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Francis Escudero expressed support yesterday for the plan of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs to reopen the Senate investigation into the Mamasapano encounter.

Escudero said he also wants the reopening of the Senate probe to determine how new accounts made public recently are relevant to the deaths of 44 Special Action Force commandos.

“I am for the reopening of the Mamasapano probe in the Senate so we can exhaust all possible scenarios and ferret out the truth behind the police operation that targeted an international terrorist and led to the death of our SAF troopers,” Escudero said.

In a statement, Escudero said the reopening of the Senate probe by the committee chaired by Sen. Grace Poe is also a better opportunity to settle the issue as to who really killed terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, after the Moro Islamic Liberation Front came up with its own version.

The MILF claimed in their report that Marwan was killed by his aide before the SAF commandos entered his hut.

At the end of the day justice must be served, the senator said.

Poe earlier said she was considering reopening the Mamasapano probe in light of President Aquino’s pronouncement that there may be an “alternative version” of what transpired during the encounter.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that he would oppose any move to reopen the investigation into the Mamasapano clash unless there is new information to support this.

“I haven’t seen any report indicating there is new information. For me, it is very clear that the hearings conducted by different bodies on the incident were thorough and complete,” Marcos said.

Marcos noted that the different bodies that conducted separate investigations on the Mamasapano incident, such as the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the House of Representatives and the Senate, came to similar conclusions.

According to Marcos, the reported presence of a Caucasian-looking male among the casualties in the incident that took place last January was nothing new.

“We heard all of these stories before,” Marcos said.

Marcos said that as far as he is concerned, the facts of the Mamasapano tragedy have been established clearly and so he could not understand why the President has floated the idea of an “alternative version” that puts into question the heroism of the SAF 44.

“It is an extreme form of disrespect to the widows and families of the heroes, the SAF 44, who gave their lives for the capture and neutralization of Marwan in order to attain peace for the whole country,” Marcos said.