On Mon, Jan 25, the Senate reopened its inquiry on the bloodbath in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, which happened exactly a year ago.
“Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile urged Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and others with new information about the massacre of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos a year ago to show up at the reopening of the Senate inquiry into the botched Mamasapano police mission,” reports Christine O. Avendaño in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The report recalled: “Duterte had told the Inquirer that he was in Zamboanga City on that fateful day and was invited by then Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to a closed-door command conference at Edward Andrews Air Force Base at 5:30pm as news broke out that the commandos were being annihilated.”
Enrile had this to say to Duterte and other government officials who may know somethings about the Mamasapano operations: “If they have knowledge then I suggest that they voluntarily appear and ask permission to submit their evidence. This is for the nation. It’s not for anybody else.”
The report noted: “Enrile said he had evidence to show that President Noynoy Aquino knew extensively about the Mamasapano police operation on Jan. 25, 2015, and had monitored in Zamboanga City the unfolding debacle in Maguindanao province, but did nothing to save the lives of the commandos as they were being slaughtered by Moro rebels.”
Meanwhile, Aquino’s allies claim that “Enrile was out to exact revenge on the President, as he has been charged with plunder in connection with a PHP10-billion pork barrel scam.”
Enrile is currently out on bail.
