Palace respects Enrile’s demand to conduct plenary debates on Mamasapano

Malacañang on Thursday said it respects the demand of Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile to conduct plenary debates on the Mamasapano incident, where 44 elite police commandos of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) were killed.

“Iginagalang namin ang panloob na proseso ng Senado at nasa pagpapasya na ng mga senador ang bagay na ‘yan,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told reporters.

Enrile on Wednesday took the floor to ask about the status of the Senate committee report on the botched police operation, and why it was never taken up for plenary discussions.

The 91-year-old senator was detained at the Philippine National Police General Hospital in connection with the pork barrel scam when the Senate committee of public order and dangerous drugs headed by Sen. Grace Poe conducted an investigation on the incident.

Enrile said he had a lot of questions to top government and military officials regarding the events that led to the January 25 bloody clash.

“In those critical moments when the battle was apparently going on, I recall no word was uttered from the Palace, from the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), and from the PNP (Philippine National Police),” Enrile said. “None at all from any agency of the government or from the media. There was an ominous silence! Why? What happened? Was there a government paralysis during those tense moments?”

READ: Enrile demands plenary debates on Mamasapano committee report | Enrile wants Senate to conduct plenary debates on Mamasapano

Coloma, meanwhile, called on individuals who may have information on the deaths of nine SAF commandos from the 84th Seaborne Company that killed international terrorist Zlukifi bin Hir or Marwan in Barangay (village) Pidsandawan.

“Sa kabila ng ganitong resulta ng pagsisiyasat, patuloy na hinihimok ng pamahalaan ang sinomang may hawak ng kongkretong impormasyon na ipagbigay-alam sa Department of Justice (DOJ) upang maisulong ang katarungan para sa mga nasawi,” Coloma said.

Coloma made the statement after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Thursday said no charges can be filed over the death of the nine SAF troopers as the the investigating team “failed to find a single credible witness on the identity of those involved in the killing of the said commandos.”

In September, the National Bureau of Investigation filed direct assault with murder complaints for the deaths of 35 members of the SAF 55th company, which served as blocking force during the operation. The DOJ formed a panel of prosecutor to handle the preliminary investigation on the murder raps.

READ: Panel formed to start prelim probe of murder raps vs 90 in Mamasapano carnage