Twenty senators have signed the committee report on the Senate investigation of the Jan. 25 Mamasapano incident that held President Aquino politically liable for the botched counterterrorism operation that claimed the lives of 44 police commandos.
The signatories included detained Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla Jr.
Senate President Franklin Drilon and Senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Juan Ponce Enrile and Lito Lapid did not sign the report produced by the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs with the committees of finance as well as peace, unification and reconciliation.
Drilon said he does not sign any committee report since he is not a member of any committee.
The signatures of the majority of the senators were secured on Wednesday, the last session day of the Senate before it adjourned for the Holy Week.
The report can only be presented on the floor for deliberations in May when Congress resumes session, according to Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the committee on public order and dangerous drugs.
Report filed today
Poe said she would file the committee report Thursday and would wait for additional attachments from the senators.
Aside from Poe, the 19 others who signed the committee report were Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III, and Senators Francis Escudero, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Sergio Osmena III, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Gregorio Honasan, JV Ejercito, Loren Legarda, Paulo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, Cynthia Villar, Juan Edgardo Angara, Teofisto Guingona III, Estrada and Revilla.
Santiago, Ejercito and Guingona sent in e-signatures.
Trillanes said he did not sign the committee report because he found it to be incomplete.
He said the committee report did not include the “whole story” of the Mamasapano incident that senators had heard during executive sessions.
“Or at least the significant portions (in the executive sessions) that would have altered the perception of the public, these were not in the report,” Trillanes told reporters.
‘Media pressure’
He also expressed the belief that “media pressure” influenced the outcome of the report, saying that “apparently there was already a conclusion that the Senate committee had to conform with.”
Among the things that were not mentioned in the report was what happened to the other Special Action Force (SAF) companies that were deployed in the operation to get Malaysian bomb expert Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” his Filipino deputy, Basit Usman, and compatriot Amin Baco and why the military failed to deliver artillery support.
Asked whether he would give a minority report, Trillanes replied in the negative, saying that there was now a majority opinion on the report and his opinion “would be irrelevant.”
Trillanes said he would just file a motion for the committee to release those statements made in the executive sessions so that people would know and understand what really happened.
On the signature page of the committee report, 14 senators signified their intention to send “manifestations, separate opinions and explanations, additional observations” as well as statements that say “may amend” while others also expressed reservations on the report.
These senators were Cayetano, Recto, Sotto, Estrada, Marcos, Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Angara, Aquino, Revilla, Binay, Pimentel, Honasan and Villar.
The senators who signed the report without any comments were Poe, Escudero and Guingona (all chairs of the three committees that investigated the Mamasapano incident) as well as Osmeña, Santiago and Ejercito.
Sen. Alan Cayetano said he considered the committee report a “partial” report and called on the Senate to continue and complete the investigation.