Aguirre: Why was Aquino immediately cleared in Mamasapano case?
Why was former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III immediately cleared in the Mamasapano case in 2015 without any thorough investigation?
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II posed that question, saying this matter should be answered in the reinvestigation into the botched anti-terrorism mission ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte.
On Tuesday, Duterte ordered the creation of an independent commission to look into the Mamasapano massacre and challenged Aquino to come clean and answer lingering questions on the slaughter of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos.
“Now that he is no longer the president, the reinvestigation should answer among others the question on the culpability of the former president,” Aguirre said.
“Through this commission, we might find answers to the questions that were not answered in previous inquiries and maybe we can finally find the closure on these issues,” he added.
Among the issues to be tackled by the independent commission, according to Aguirre, are:
– “Did President Aquino give an order to stand down and not to reinforce the pinned down SAF troopers?”
– “Why was it that our artillery’s phosphorous rounds were fired only after most if not all of our SAF troopers have died?”
-“Last but most important of all, why were the mobile phones of all those involved in the planning and the directing of Oplan Exodus from President Aquino down to the officers not submitted for forensic examination?”
Aguirre added that “as far as I know, only General Napenas immediately submitted his mobile unit to the CIDG for forensic examination.”
Aguirre said he will not join the commission and inhibit from the probe because he served as lawyer of former SAF chief Director Getulio Napenas, who was charged by the Ombudsman before the Sandiganbayan along with former PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima earlier this week.
Last year, the DOJ has indicted 88 commanders and members of MILF, BIFF and PAGs for the complex crime of direct assault with murder for the killing of the 35 of the 44 slain SAF commandos belonging to the 55th SAF company that engaged the rebels in the cornfields of Barangay Tukanalipao.
The DOJ also probed the cases of the nine other slain commandos from the 84th SAF company in Barangay Pidsandawan as well as the five civilians and 18 MILF fighters who were also killed during the clash. But no one was charged because probers failed to secure witnesses to identify the killers.
