Enrile seeks reopening of Senate probe on Mamasapano incident

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile now wants the Senate to reopen its investigation on the Mamasapano incident, saying there are questions that need to be answered, especially the participation of government agencies involved.

Enrile initially asked a plenary debate on the report of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, which conducted an investigation on the incident. The probe was spearheaded by the committee chair, Senator Grace Poe.

READ: Enrile demands plenary debates on Mamasapano committee report

But during the hearing of the Senate finance subcommittee on the proposed budget of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, the opposition leader said he would ask for the reopening of the Senate probe on the Mamasapano incident.

Asked in an interview after the hearing if he wants the investigation to start again at the committee level, Enrile said: “Yeah, because there are questions that were not asked during that hearing.”

“Yeah, I will ask for the reopening so that we will ask the questions regarding the participation of each agency of government involved,” he further said.

During the budget hearing, Enrile asked the government’s chief negotiator with the Moro Islamic Liberations Front (MILF), Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, how she learned about the incident.

Ferrer reiterated her answer to Poe’s committee that she learned about the incident in the morning of January 25, 2015, the day of the Mamasapano operation that left 44 Special Action Force (SAF) men and several MILF rebels dead.

“Did you inform the President that there was an ongoing fighting in Maguindanao after you got the information?” the senator asked, to which Ferrer answered no.

“Why not? Why did you not inform your boss who’s handling the peace process?” Enrile asked again.

“This was a military matter, your honor,” Ferrer answered.

“But he’s the commander-in-chief, he’s the head of state, head of government, chief executive officer of the Republic of the Philippines Inc., the top policeman in the country, and he was your boss, direct boss in the peace process; and you’re the subordinate,” said Enrile.

“You got the information. Was it your duty to tell your boss that there’s something going on and he should exercise his powers as handler of the peace process in the country to tell them to stop…”

But Ferrer explained that at that time she was informed about the incident, the Armed Forces of the Philippines was already aware of the situation.

And when Enrile went on with his queries, Ferrer told the senator that they had already submitted a report to Poe’s committee.

The committee report on the incident had already been transmitted to the plenary, but it was not scheduled yet for deliberations until now.