Binay wants IBP, Church to select members of Truth Commission on SAF massacre
Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER file photo
MANILA, Philippines—Has Vice President Jejomar Binay lost faith in President Benigno Aquino III?
Binay previously called for an independent body to investigate the Jan. 25 slaughter of 44 police commandos in Mamapasano, Maguindanao, and also called on suspended Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima to speak up on his alleged involvement in the police operations.
This despite President Aquino’s creation of a Board of Inquiry to conduct such investigation and the Chief Executive’s assurance that he had only consulted Purisima on efforts to capture Malaysian bomb expert Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan but only up to the time before the latter was suspended by the Ombudsman.
On Tuesday, Binay opposed a proposal of administration senators for President Aquino to appoint members of an independent body that would be tasked to the investigation.
The Vice President issued a statement saying that a search committee and not President Aquino who should do the appointment of members of the so-called Truth Commission so as not to cast doubt on its integrity.
“While the creation of the body is an important first step in finding out what really happened and to determine accountability, we need to remove any doubts about the impartiality of its members,” he said, adding:
“Having the members appointed by the President as proposed by several administration senators will certainly cast doubts on their impartiality.”
Binay said President Aquino’s hand in the appointment of the members of the Truth Commission “could fuel speculations that the investigation will lead to a whitewash even before the probe has started.”
“We need to ensure that the investigating body, from the start, is seen as an independent body,” he said.
Binay pushed instead for the Integrated Bar of the Philippines in “taking the lead in creating a search committee,” which in turn should conduct consultations “to determine who is best qualified to become members of the independent fact-finding commission.”
The Vice President also proposed that members of the Catholic Church and other religious groups be part of the independent fact-finding commission apart from former chief justices of the Supreme Court and other eminent personalities “who are not identified with the administration or any political organization.”
Binay is known to be close to President Aquino even if he belongs to the opposition.
And despite blaming the President’s allies for allegedly mounting attacks against him when he faced corruption allegations in the Senate, Binay maintained he has remained friends with the President.
But Binay’s spokesperson Joey Salgado denied the Vice President had lost faith on the President with his statements.
“There is no politics here. It’s just in the interest of the nation and the administration that from the very start the body tasked to investigate the Maguindanao incident is fair and impartial,” Salgado told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Salgado also said Binay was just echoing the “national sentiment” when he made those calls.
He said Binay’s strong statements should not be interpreted as the latter not supporting the embattled President Aquino.
RELATED STORIES
Recto: SAF 44 texted last moments to family, loved ones
‘Aquino as commander-in-chief could have saved 44 SAF men’
