MALACAÑANG on Tuesday said the leadership of the House of Representatives should first set the “processes” that would apply in dealing with the 20 follow-up questions posed by Congress investigators seeking clarification on the role of President Aquino and his trusted aide, resigned National Police Chief Alan Purisima, in the botched Mamasapano operation that killed 44 police commandos, 18 Moro rebels and five noncombatants.
Asked at a Palace briefing if President Aquino would attend the House inquiry into the Mamasapano carnage or just submit written answers to the 20 questions posed by congressmen, Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda reaffirmed Aquino’s commitment to ferret out the truth but suggested that the House should first lay down the process for doing so.
“I think the processes, the deliberations on the request to [answer] the 20 questions should first be addressed to the House leadership,” Lacierda told reporters, adding that, “Again, we’d like to emphasize the commitment of the President to uncovering the truth.”
He explained that part of the reason the Palace took the position “is to ensure that the statements of the President will also be enshrined in official documents. And for that reason, there is the commitment to seeking out the truth.”
“However, this is a House investigation and, therefore, it should be in keeping with the House leadership as to the procedure, the manner of eliciting the truth, mindful again—and let me emphasize—mindful of the separation of powers and the respect for coequal branches of government,” Lacierda reminded lawmakers posing the questions to Aquino.
He noted that most of the questions submitted by the congressmen have already been answered by Aquino himself in previous speeches, giving the President’s versions of what happened in the planning and execution of Oplan Exodus, which resulted in the killing of 44 Special Action Force commandos by rebels belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and its breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
“In fact, the questions themselves [that were] posed by the Makabayan Bloc…most of them have been responded [to] one way or the other by the President,” Lacierda said.
He asked reporters why the questions are being repeated and suggested his own answer: “Siguro you don’t want the answers the President gave, one reason; or you are not satisfied with the President’s statement; or there is a line that you want the President to state, to say.”
As to the 20 questions posed by congressmen for the President to answer to clarify the unresolved issues in the Mamasapano incident, Lacierda countered: “You are members of the House of Representatives, it’s up to you to go through and the House leadership to go through the procedure and—ensuring, however, that the separation of powers and the respect to the coequal branch is maintained.”