GOVERNMENT officials are willing to testify and answer all the questions that may be asked during the reopening of the Senate’s investigation of the Mamasapano massacre, Malacañang said Thursday.
“The government will heed the invitation of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs and reply to all pertinent questions that may be asked at the hearing in the interest of transparency and public accountability,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.
“Government is prepared to participate in the hearing,” said Coloma.
“I am not privy to the full list of government officials who were invited by the committee. Therefore, I have not had the opportunity to inquire from the invitees themselves. Let me emphasize that government has always been open and forthright in addressing all concerns pertaining to the Mamasapano incident,” Coloma also said.
The Office of Senator Grace Poe, chairman of the committee, has released the names of 24 officials who are invited to the Jan. 27 hearing.
They are: Coloma; Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa; Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin; former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, former Armed Forces chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang; former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima; former PNP OIC deputy director general Leonardo Espina; PNP chief Director General Ricardo Marquez; Chief Supt. Fernando Mendez of the Intelligence Group, the police Board of Inquiry chairman Director Benjamin Magalong, former Special Action Force director Getulio Napeñas, and former SAF deputy director Noli Talino.
Also invited to the Senate inquiry are Police Regional Office 9 Director Chief Supt. Edgar Basbas; PNP 4th Battalion Commander Hendrix Mangaldan; Senior Supt. Richard Dela Rosa; Supt. Michael John Mangahis, Supt. Abraham Abayari, Supt. Raymund Train, Chief Inspector Recaredo Marasigan; PO2 Christopher Lalan; AFP Chief General Hernando Iriberri; Army 6th Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan; AFP Western Mindanao Command commander Lt. General Rustico Guerrero; and National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia Jr.
President Benigno Aquino III earlier said he believed that the Senate’s reopening of its investigation into the Mamasapano massacre in which 44 SAF commandos died in a covert operation approved by the President was politically motivated.
Aquino also suggested that Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who sought the reopening of the investigation, had an ax to grind against the administration.
Enrile is one of three opposition senators facing plunder and graft charges for allegedly accepting kickbacks for funds diverted from their pork barrel projects.
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has asked the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs to invite former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to the reopening of the investigation.
In a letter dated Jan. 20, 2015 addressed to Poe, Marcos also sought the presence of Atty. Virgilio Mendez, director of the National Bureau of Investigation, as another resource person in the Jan. 27 hearing.
“Their presence during the hearing is extremely important as they can inform the committee of the status of the cases involving the 44 fallen members of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police,” said Marcos.
Despite government guarantees to give justice to the victims of the massacre and their families Marcos noted that no case has been filed in court to prosecute the suspects almost a year after the incident.
“The families of the SAF 44 do not ask anything from the government except for justice for their loved ones,” Marcos said.
Earlier, Marcos also said that at the reopening of the Mamasapano investigation he would also seek to clarify reports of complaints of at least two widows of the SAF 44 that they have not yet received the promised aid from the government.
The PNP has denied their allegations and released a report detailing the assistance that has been given to the SAF 44 families.