DAVAO CITY – Senator Alan Peter Cayetano wants to reopen the investigation on the January 25 Mamasapano incident to check on the “conflicting findings of various investigative bodies”.
Cayetano said the Ombudsman’s recent approval of a recommendation to conduct preliminary investigation proceedings and administrative adjudication against the junior officers and some survivors of the operation “could lead to a chilling effect on the entire police chain of command.”
Cayetano, in a statement on Friday, said he wrote a letter to Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs that led the probe into the incident, seeking for a reopening of the investigation.
“The Senate committee, once and for all, should set out to reveal the entire truth behind this gruesome massacre,” he said, noting that finding justice for the deaths of the 44 elite cops should be a prerequisite for conducting peace talks with armed rebels and securing the safety of the entire Mindanao region.
Cayetano admits that there are varying liabilities in the operation that claimed the lives of 44 Special Action Force members, but he said “the Ombudsman’s decision demoralizes both police and military officials in the front lines who were merely obeying legitimate orders from their superiors.”
He said “command responsibility over the failed operation should only rest with those who gave the orders – such as dismissed Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Dir. Gen. Alan Purisima – not the ones receiving them.” (davaotoday.com)
