House to resume, finish Mamasapano probe this week

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives intends to finish this week its joint inquiry into the Mamasapano incident, with congressmen vowing to conduct orderly hearings and come out with a comprehensive report on the Jan. 25 bloodbath that triggered a crisis of confidence for the Aquino administration.

The House committees on peace and order; and peace, reconciliation and unity – chaired by Reps. Jeffrey Ferrer of Negros Occidental, and Jim Hataman-Salliman of Basilan – will resume their joint hearing on April 7 and 8 while Congress is on a break until next month.

“There’s a possibility that we’ll hold an executive session just for one day immediately this week after that and we will wrap it up,” Salliman told The STAR.

“Without making comparisons to and respecting other investigations, I’m confident that we’ll come up with a credible and comprehensive report because we have some established and generally agreed facts and issues from two other reports,” he said.

Salliman was referring to the reports of the Senate investigation and the Philippine National Police’s Board of Inquiry (BOI). He pointed out the House suspended the joint inquiry last February to allow the BOI to finish its probe.

He said members of the joint panel have likely read both reports and will make clarifications from there.

“The Senate and the BOI, and even our inquiry, have their respective and unique limitations, time constraints and context, so we believe our report will be not only complementary but also comprehensive and deal with some issues in depth,” Salliman said.

He appealed to members of the two panels not to ask questions that have already been answered in the two reports and in the previous hearings.

And in order to save time, allow other congressmen who have not yet aired their queries to participate in order to contribute to a more in-depth inquiry.

Salliman recalled the first joint hearing in February that became raucous as some members – departing from pre-agreed ground rules – exceeded the time allotted to them, made several motions or engaged in emotional debates with their colleagues.

He said those who were lined up to ask questions in the last hearing but were unable to participate due to lack of time will be prioritized.

Salliman said lawmakers must respect the House as an institution representing the people.

“My humble appeal to my colleagues is that we should be responsible and act as mature lawmakers. I know this (Mamasapano incident) remains to be an emotional issue but our constituents elected us to represent them,” Salliman said.

“Let’s not grandstand or do tantrums because of some agenda. Let’s just focus on finding the truth for legislation,” he said.