Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Exactly one year after the bloody encounter between the government troops and Moro rebels in Mamasapano, the Senate will reopen its investigation on the incident on January 25.
The Senate Committee on Rules will conduct additional hearings, as requested by Sens. Juan Ponce Enrile and Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III in November last year.
Senate Committee on Rules chairman Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said they would reopen the investigation without voiding the findings of previous proceedings by the Senate Committee on Public Order chaired by Sen. Grace Poe.
Enrile was not able to participate in the previous hearings on Mamasapano incident since he was detained during the first investigation. The senator was charged with a plunder case before the Sandiganbayan in connection with pork barrel scam.
Sens. Sergio Osmeña III and Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero backed Enrile’s request to reopen the Senate investigation on Mamasapano incident — a bloody encounter that claimed the lives of at least 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos, 18 combatants of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and five civilians.
While Sen. Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos rejected proposals for the reopening of the investigation on the tragedy unless there are new pieces of evidence or information about the incident.
In a statement, Marcos pointed out that “the Senate probe found the President responsible for the January 25 Mamasapano tragedy.”
The senator also reiterated that the “alternative reality” theory “is being floated in a bid to cover up the President’s own culpability for the Mamasapano tragedy.”
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is not keen on doing the same thing.
According to House Committee on Public Order and Safety chairman, Negros Occidental Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer, the House panel is already finalizing its report on Mamasapano encounter after conducting several public hearings last year.
Ferrer said the draft report is ready and is distributed to other House committees conducting similar probe “for comments, observation, and inputs.”
But as for the purpose of the Senate reopening the investigation, Ferrer distanced himself and said: “I do not want to speculate, they have their own reason [and] I cannot speak for them.”
