Mamasapano probe revival draws support

Several colleagues of Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanazes yesterday backed her plan to reopen the Senate’s inquiry into the bloody skirmish in Mamasapano, Maguindanao between rebel groups and members of the Philippine National Police — Special Action Force (PNP-SAF), following President Aquino’s recent pronouncement of an alternative version of the carnage.

Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, earlier said she is considering reopening the Mamasapano probe to check the veracity of the information provided by President Aquino who, however, refused to give details of his “alternative version” of what transpired during the encounter.

Senator Francis Escudero said he is supporting plans by the senator to reopen the Senate investigation to determine how “new accounts” recently made public are relevant to the deaths of 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF).

“I am for the reopening of the Mamasapano probe in the Senate so we can exhaust all possible scenarios and ferret out the truth behind the police operation that targeted an international terrorist and led to the death of our SAF troopers,” Escudero said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto likewise welcomed the move and said it can boost the government’s own probe.

“I’m in favor. I think the Senate is a good venue, since we already investigated that. If there are new pieces of evidence they can present, we’re always open to look into that,” he said.

The lawmakers agree that reopening the Senate investigation is also a good way to settle the issue as to who really neutralized terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, after the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) came up with its own version and said Marwan’s aide shot and killed him.

The MILF account is contrary to the publicly accepted account that Marwan was killed by SAF troopers involved in the covert operation.