Palace welcomes reopening of Mamasapano probe

Malacañang on Wednesday welcomed the Senate’s decision to reopen the investigation on the Mamasapano debacle on the first anniversary of the bloody clash between police commandos and Moro fighters, but added they have no idea on the “possibly new evidence” that Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile was talking about.

Asked if he thought that the reopening of the inquiry was aimed at reviving anti-administration sentiments ahead of the May polls, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said it would be unfair to put malice to the lawmakers’ decision.

READ: Enrile info prompts new Mamasapano inquiry

“The decision to open it is clearly a legislative decision. We have no knowledge of the report of the Inquirer mentioned about Sen. Enrile’s statement there, but the people involved have all testified before the Senate inquiry. I am not sure what more we can contribute. They have given their testimonies. Let’s just wait and see,” Lacierda told reporters in a press briefing.

“We do not wish to impute motivations on the part of the legislators,” he said.

Lacierda also said they did not want to impute any motivation on presidential aspirant Sen. Grace Poe, rival of administration bet Mar Roxas and chair of the public order committee that led the Senate probe, who ruled that an additional hearing would be held on Jan. 25 on the request of Enrile.

The hearing will take place exactly a year after the botched operation, which led to the deaths of Malaysian terrorist Zulkifi bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” 44 elite commandos from the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force, 17 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and three civilians.

Noting that all pertinent personalities have already testified, Lacierda said they “really don’t know” what Enrile meant by “possible new evidence.”

“We really don’t know kung ano talaga ang sinabi ni Sen. Enrile na possible ‘new evidence.’ We really don’t know. As far as we are concerned, the testimonies have all been put out, have been forthright, so hindi namin alam kung ano pang bagong mailalabas,” he said.

RELATED VIDEOS