Slain SAF men’s kin assured: Help to continue

THE MAN who was kept in the dark about “Oplan Wolverine,” Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, condoles with the widow of PO2 Peterson Indongsan Carap, one of the 44 Special Action Force members killed in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao, on Jan. 25. RICHARD BALONGLONG/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Members of the Cabinet sought to give assurances that the government would keep supporting the families of 44 police commandos slain in a mission to get international terrorist Marwan long after the mourning for them had faded.

At a forum with a coalition of civil society groups and nongovernment organizations supporting the Aquino administration, the Cabinet members said there would be no pause in the help for the families of the commandos.

“I think, very generously, the government is going to attend to the needs of … the families they have left behind,” said Budget Secretary Florencio Abad here on Saturday.

Abad issued the statement as he addressed questions from participants of Koalisyon ng Mamamayan para sa Reporma (Kompre), which gathered in this provincial capital of Pampanga.

Abad apologized for the absence of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who went to the Cordillera region to pay respects to some of the slain commandos who were from the Cordillera provinces.

“What President Aquino wants after this incident is to at least make the families feel that those sacrifices are well worth it for them,” Abad said.

Asked if there were new expenditures in relation to activities or operations following the Mamasapano clash, he said Mr. Aquino was “committed to helping the families.”

In an interview after the Kompre event, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the National Police Commission facilitated the partial release of pension funds due the 44 PNP-Special Action Force (SAF) men.

Each family received at least P200,000 from the President’s Social Fund on Friday night, she said.

Her department, she said, began helping the bereaved families to cope with grief through stress debriefing sessions.

“And part of it is asking what other forms of help can be given,” Soliman said.

She said after meeting the families from Friday until

1 a.m. on Saturday, Mr. Aquino instructed heads of national government agencies to provide the families of the SAF men their needs for education, employment, livelihood, health and housing. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon