Nancy Binay files SAF 44 holiday bill

Senator Nancy Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Sen. Nancy Binay has filed a bill seeking to declare Jan. 25 of every year a special working holiday to remember the bravery, heroism and sacrifice of the 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos who were killed on that day this year in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Binay issued a statement on Sunday announcing she had introduced the measure, Senate Bill No. 2916, as thousands of followers of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) massed for a fourth day of protests denouncing alleged government interference in the sect’s internal affairs while ignoring the cries for justice of the SAF widows.

“The 44 heroes sacrificed their lives with only one thing in mind—to fulfill their mandate to enforce the law, prevent and control crimes, maintain peace and order, and ensure the public safety and internal security,” the senator said.

The SAF troopers were massacred while on a mission to take out three international terrorists in an area controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an operation that set back the Aquino administration timetable for the setting up of a Bangsamoro substate in Mindanao as the centerpiece of a peace agreement with the Muslim separatists.

Binay’s father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, leads the opposition and has been harping on the administration’s purported lack of action on the Mamasapano case and its supposed interference in the internal affairs of the INC.—Christine O. Avendaño