UNA hits Palace for halt in House probe into Mamasapano clash

By: DJ Yap - 10 years ago

UNA interim president Toby Tiangco. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday accused the Aquino administration of pulling strings to stop the congressional probes into the slaughter of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos last month.

“What is the Palace hiding? It’s clear there was maneuvering on the part of Malacañang to stop the hearing and investigation into what really happened in Mamasapano,” Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco said in a statement.

“This looks like damage control,” said Tiangco, UNA’s interim president.

In UNA’s first public criticism of the incident, Tiangco said that as early as last week, it was already clear that some resource persons, in particular, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, wanted to avoid questioning by the lawmakers. The two excused themselves at noon to attend a meeting with President Aquino.

The House of Representatives has indefinitely suspended the joint inquiry by the committees on public order and safety, and peace, reconciliation and unity, on the SAF raid against Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” in Maguindanao province.

Stung by criticisms of the members’ disorderly conduct at initial hearing on Feb. 11, House leaders said the inquiry would only resume once the board of inquiry (BOI) formed by the Philippine National Police submitted its full report on its own probe into the encounter between the commandos and forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

But critics denounced the move to suspend the hearing, with some seeing the hand of Malacañang behind it.

Binay, who is seeking the presidency, has demanded that resigned PNP Director General Alan Purisima be held accountable for the fiasco. Purisima was under suspension on corruption charges when he gave “advice” for the operation. Binay, who is himself grappling with corruption allegations, has refrained from directly criticizing Malacañang.

Tiangco said the suspension of the congressional investigation was untenable, as its mission was different from the PNP’s BOI.

“The BOI is different from Congress. We have a duty and responsibility to legislate, so why are they blocking us?” he said.

Diverting public attention

Tiangco said the executive branch was placing “undue pressure” on Congress, and suggested that the suspension could be part of a bigger plan to divert the public’s attention from the incident and to deflect blame from the administration’s senior officials.

He said the reports last week about a purported coup attempt against the government were another sign of diversion allegedly on the government’s behest.

No gag order

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Tuesday denied issuing a gag order to congressmen on the Jan. 25 bloodbath, ostensibly to spare the lower chamber from further embarrassment after last week’s disastrous first hearing.

“They can [talk] to their hearts’ content. I wouldn’t want to deprive them of their chance to be in the news,” he said of the House members, whose bickering and disorderly conduct at the hearing turned the chamber into the butt of jokes.

Belmonte met with small groups of lawmakers on Monday night to explain the House leadership’s reasons for suspending the public order and safety committee’s investigation into the Mamasapano incident, which was supposed to resume on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Blame game avoided

The Feb. 11 hearing had drawn criticisms and jokes on social media about the legislators’ behavior during the inquiry, which some observers likened to a circus, as they talked on top of one another or squabbled over trivial matters.

On Monday, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II announced the postponement of the congressional probe, pending the submission of the full report of the PNP inquiry.

Belmonte said it was not true that he asked the House members to refrain from making any more comments to the media on the probe to avoid further public backlash against the chamber, or to protect President Aquino, whose involvement in the SAF operation had raised a number of questions.

“The primary consideration was that the House leadership did not want to continue the blame game between the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PNP,” said Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, one of the lawmakers who met with the Speaker.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said the President benefited from the postponement of the congressional inquiry, as he would no longer be compelled to answer serious questions about the extent of his knowledge or the role of the United States in the Mamasapano massacre.

“Even if it’s chaotic, we should continue the probe. We supported the proposal for a joint hearing with the Senate, but [since it didn’t happen] the House probe is even more important, because its focus is not only on the MILF but also on Aquino’s responsibility,” he said.

Originally posted: 9:35 PM | Tuesday, February 17th, 2015