Bishop wants ‘whole truth’ out in new Mamasapano probe

A bishop on Wednesday said that the reopening of the investigation on the Mamasapano massacre which claimed the lives of 67 people, including 44 elite police commandos, should reveal the whole truth on the bloody encounter.

In an interview, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said that the families of the victims deserve the truth.

He said that the slain officers were supposedly used to accomplish an unlawful end.
“’Yung Mamasapano, kung magkakaroon uli ng investigation, dapat ay kumpletuhin at walang itago. Makatotohanan dapat, sapagkat talaga namang marami ang kawawa dun yung mga biktima at yung mga naulila ng biktima, sapagkat walang wala sila; parang sinisisi pa yung mga napatay samantalang sila’y tumutupad lamang sa tungkulin nila at sila’y parang nagamit lamang sa hindi mabuti. Kaya dapat ay kung gusto nating magkaroon ng katarungan ay dapat ay lahat ay palabasin ang katotohanan,” Arguelles said on Radio Veritas

(If there would be another investigation on the Mamasapano encounter, it should be thoroughly done so that no stone will be left unturned. It should be truthful because the victims and their families are in a pitiful state because their loved ones are the ones being blamed for the incident while they were only fulfilling their duty and that they were just used to accomplish an unlawful end. If we want justice, we should seek out the truth.)

On Monday, the Senate has affirmed the decision of the committee on rules to reopen the Mamasapano investigation.

The investigation was pushed by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile who said that he has new evidence on the encounter. Enrile said that he has evidence to prove that President Benigno Aquino III is “very much involved” in the Mamasapano mission.

“I would like to make it on record that I have evidence: One, that the President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino, was actively and directly involved in the planning and preparations of Oplan Exodus; two, that on the day of the actual operations, he was monitoring the operations while he was on his plane going to Zamboanga City; and three, that while the operations were going on, and Special Action Forces were being slaughtered, he did not do anything at all to save them,” Enrile said.

The Mamasapano hearing is set on January 27.