Aquino on Mamasapano: No conclusion at this point

President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday said there was still no conclusion on the botched Mamasapano operation in Maguindanao, which caused the death of 44 elite commandos of the Philippine National Police’ Special Action Force.

During the Meet Inquirer forum at the Philippine Daily Inquirer headquarters in Makati City, Aquino said he himself still has a lot of questions amid an ongoing probe by the National Bureau of Investigation.

“I still have quite a number of questions, and there are various agencies of government tasked to ferret out the truth of exactly what happened in its entirety. There is an alternative version of events that happened there, which is undergoing very intense scrutiny. We are looking for witnesses that will prove or disprove certain observations,” Aquino said.

“Certain quarters raised certain points that led to the alternate version. There is no conclusion at this point,” he added.

Aquino, however, refused to elaborate what the “alternate versions” were all about.

“I would rather not talk too deeply about the specifics because it might really hamper our efforts to get to the truth of this matter—the complete truth,” he said. “Don’t ask me about the specifics.”

Last month, the Philippine National Police said it has identified and forwarded to the Department of Justice names of personalities from Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front supposedly involved in the failed operation.

Aquino was heavily criticized when he did not mention the SAF 44 during his last State of the Nation Address in July. Yuji Vincent Gonzales/JE

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