MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III is expected to thoroughly review the report of the Board of Inquiry (BOI) created by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to look into the Mamasapano incident and discuss the results with the presidential legal team, a Malacañang official said on Friday.
“As is normal with the President, he would have to look at it himself, depending on the volume of the results. And also, it would not be unusual for him to call his legal team to go through the report with him before we make any public statements about the findings and the contents,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.
Due on Monday
The PNP BOI is expected to submit its report on Monday to Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and PNP officer in charge Deputy Director Gen. Leonardo Espina.
The Office of the President will also be furnished a copy.
Roxas and Espina were both kept in the dark in the police operation against Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” on Jan. 25.
While Marwan was neutralized, 67 people also ended up dead—44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos, 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters and five civilians, including an 8-year-old girl.
The fallout dealt a blow to the peace process between government and the MILF.
Senate report
The Senate is also expected to release its committee report soon, while there is a growing clamor in the House of Representatives to resume its own investigation despite having a rowdy hearing a few weeks ago.
BOI chair Director Benjamin Magalong said the team will submit its final report to Espina on March 8, after it sought a second extension of the deadline of submission. They were initially ordered to submit the result of their investigation last Feb. 26.
Upon receipt of the report, Espina will then submit the findings to the interior secretary.
Roxas ordered the creation of the BOI to probe the circumstances surrounding Oplan Exodus, the operation to arrest Marwan and Filipino terrorist Basit Usman.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is also looking into the debacle.
The MILF itself had conducted an investigation and would submit the results to the International Monitoring Team.
What Leila wants
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she would rather receive the full report instead of a mere executive summary on the investigation of the MILF on the Mamasapano incident.
“I have to study the executive summary first, but I would prefer the full report because it would contain details needed in our investigation,” De Lima told reporters in an interview.
De Lima issued the statement in response to MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal’s pronouncement that the rebel group would only submit to the government an executive summary of the report of its investigation into the clash between the MILF and members of the PNP-SAF as the complete version is exclusively for the organization’s internal use.
The MILF said its investigation of the Mamasapano incident has already been completed, but the report will first be submitted to Malaysia, the facilitator of peace talks between the government and the Moro group.
De Lima earlier assured the public that a fair, objective and balanced report would be released by the joint DOJ National Prosecution Service and the National Bureau of Investigation team.
“Charges would be filed based on the assessment of the prosecutors and supported by evidence,” De Lima earlier said.