DAVAO CITY – Progressive lawmakers expressed support to the move to reopen the Mamasapano probe, the botched operation in Maguindanao province, which claimed the lives of 44 special action troopers and civilians last year.
Bayan Muna partylist lawmakers Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate said: “the ghost of Mamasapano will continue to haunt the Aquino administration until such time President Aquino himself and the US government are found primarily culpable for the bungled anti-terror operations in Maguindanao.”
Colmenares said they hope that the investigation will finally provide justice for the victims.
“While Malacañang was quick to say that the reopening of the Mamasapano hearings has nothing more to reveal, and the president has already owned up to responsibility for Oplan Exodus, the truth is, a year after the said incident, the families of the victims still cry for justice,” Colmenares added.
“Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda flaunted his principal’s supposed admission of the said botched operations, but President Aquino’s action actually stops short of being primarily responsible for the inherently flawed plan and execution, and be culpable for his actions as commander-in-chief,” he said.
Colmenares added that close allies of the administration involved in the incident are also yet to be indicted and made responsible.
“The involvement of the disgraced former police Chief Alan Purisima in Oplan Exodus in this operation has not been brought to a resolution,” said Colmenares.
Meanwhile, Zarate said that “attempts to cover up the culpability of the president and the US for Operation Exodus hounded past investigations.”
“President Aquino lied up front about the participation of the US in this operation. From intelligence sources up to the planning and execution of Oplan Exodus, the participation of the US has been unraveled by testimonies during the hearings,” Zarate said.
Zarate said they hope the Senate hearing “will dig more on the US role in Mamasapano and, possibly, in other US anti-terror operations conducted in the country, particularly in Mindanao.” (davaotoday.com)
