Palace: Enrile often contradicted his words

Malacañang on Saturday denied that it prevented Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile from presenting new evidence during the reopening on Wednesday of the Senate probe on the botched Mamasapano operation.

Asked about allegations that Enrile was “pacified by the Palace,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Manolo Quezon III said the 91-year-old minority leader had often contradicted his words with his actions.

“I’ll answer that by pointing out that it would be difficult to base what Senator Enrile is going to do on what Senator Enrile has said, if only because Senator Enrile has often done something different from what he has said. Pwede na lang po natin balikan ang mga papalit-palit na kuwento tungkol sa martial law. Medyo katakataka na over the past 40 years, medyo nag-iiba halos bawat dekada ang mga kuwento tungkol dito. I think the reality spoke for itself,” Quezon said over state-run Radyo ng Bayan.

“Nakita naman natin lahat na sinagot ng mga kinauukulan ng pamahalaan lahat ng mga tanong na gustong iharap ng mga miyembro ng Senado. Ngunit ang impormasyon na nailatag natin ay ang impormasyon pa rin; ang datos, datos pa rin; at ang mga kongklusyon ay ‘yon pa rin,” he added.

READ: Enrile lays down 8 issues vs Aquino at new Mamasapano probe

Enrile, who initiated the reopening of the Senate inquiry on the bloody clash, previously said he would raise “eight points” against President Benigno Aquino III to prove the latter’s “active” and “direct” involvement in the operation that left 44 Special Action Force men and several others dead.

But in the culmination of Wednesday’s hearing, Sen. Grace Poe said the reopening of the probe did not yield shocking or explosive information that could change the original committee report, noting that it circled on “chronological and clinical timeline” of the incident.

READ: New Mamasapano probe yielded no shocking info–Grace | No new evidence but Enrile satisfied with reopened Mamasapano probe

Quezon also expressed gratitude to the Senate for supposedly reiterating what Malacañang had said all along—“that those who presented the plan had no intention to follow it and that the President was being given the wrong information.”

“We believe that there are no questions left and that we are glad that the healing process can continue without politics getting in the way,” he said.