Truth on Mamasapano will be told after new prez takes over—Cayetano

The whole truth on the Mamasapano debacle may be possibly known only after President Benigno Aquino III steps down from office a few months from now, according to vice presidential aspirant Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

The lawmaker said Wednesday’s Senate inquiry on the Maguindanao operation that led to the death of 60 Filipinos was a “replay” of past investigations.

“Sinabi na ito ni Mayor Duterte, unless the President orders all of the men to tell the truth and the whole truth, all the generals, replay ang mangyayari. Kasi each sectors will stick to their story, but we all know that there are missing links, there are missing timeframes, there are questions that have to be answered. This will only happen if the new president in 2016 will order everyone to tell the whole truth,” he told reporters at a Senate forum on Thursday.

He noted that it was apparent that both the Armed Forces of the Philippines and former Special Action Force chief Getulio Napeñas had become “more forceful” in blaming each other for the incident.

Cayetano said he had three questions that remained unanswered: 1) Why was the SAF sent to the operation to get Marwan and not the military? 2) What was the MILF’s role during and after getting Marwan? 3) Was there an opportunity to help the SAF and if yes why was it not given?

Presidential hopeful and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte had recently claimed that he was with the President in Zamboanga City on the same day of the Mamasapano operation last year.

Cayetano said this information provided by his running mate would be helpful to the investigation.

“Definitely makakatulong, pero hindi ko alam kung gaano ka significant kasi pati sa akin, in private hindi niya sinasabi. Basta’t ang alam niya what happened during the command conference, at siya na mismo nagsabi, hapon na ito, wala naman siya doon during or earlier na nangyayari ito. That’s why iyong sa question number two, and question number three, ang makakasagot niyan iyong nandoon sa loob ng command conference at kasama ng Pangulo habang nangyayari ito,” the senator said. RC