Malacañang remains firm in pushing the peace process, as well as the passage of the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL), despite the decision of irate lawmakers to withdraw support for it in protest over the weekend “massacre” of police special forces by Muslim rebels in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao.
“Iginagalang natin ang proseso ng mga mambabatas at mauunawaan namin ang kanilang pasya dahil nga sa pinakahuling kaganapan, pero patuloy pa rin ang pagtataguyod natin ng prosesong pangkapayapaan, dahil mahalaga ang pagpapasa ng Bangsamoro basic law,” Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said.
Coloma told Palace reporters that the Office of the President will abide by the legislative process, even as it affirms the importance of forging a new peace deal with Moro rebels and passing the BBL granting greater autonomy to the Muslim community in the South.
He said this was the reason President Aquino dispatched Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II to the massacre site in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao to conduct an on-site inquiry and report to him immediately.
SAF commander relieved
The Philippine National Police (PNP), meanwhile, relieved on Tuesday the commander of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) as it began looking into the massacre on Sunday of police commandos in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, that resulted in the death of more than 40 policemen.
PNP Officer in Charge Deputy Director Leonardo Espina said Director Getolio Napenas was relieved of his post as the Board of Inquiry (BOI), which Espina himself heads, investigates the death of the police commandos in the hands of Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces.
“I personally talked to Napenas about his administrative relief…I would like to get to the bottom of things, how this happened,” said Espina during a briefing, which was also joined by Roxas.
“The BOI will determine what really happened and its investigation will entail both internal and external. What is the culpability, liability of the officers who led the SAF operation?” Espina added.
The BOI, whose members included Director Benjamin Magalong of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, will also determine the criminal liability of those who killed the policemen after they served the warrant of arrest for Jemaah Islamiyah leader Zulkifli Bin Hir alias Marwan.
Espina said Napenas is replaced by Chief Supt. Noel Talina, deputy commander of the SAF.
The PNP officer in charge said he would recommend the highest possible medal to be given to those who died during the operation, and it is the equivalent of Gold Cross medal in the military. At the same time, they would also be promoted.
“Full state honors, benefits [to the slain policemen] will be given,” Espina assured.
Roxas said the final death toll for the police in the botched operation was 44 killed and 12 wounded, adding that the total number of commandos who participated in the serving of the warrant was 392. As to what the other policemen did during the incident, he did not say.
“They all came from different units within the SAF,” the secretary said of the policemen.
Call for sobriety
Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno on Tuesday expressed solidarity with the families of the policemen who were killed in the recent clash with the MILF forces, even as President Aquino continues to keep mum over the incident.
In a statement released to the media, Sereno said his fellow magistrates “deeply” mourn the death of the police officers but, at the same time, are calling for sobriety.
“No words are enough to console the families for their loss, perhaps even the promise of earthly justice will sound hollow at this time. But I ask them now to cling to the hope that there is always the eternal realm,” Sereno said.
“A call for war and retribution should never be made lightly and should remain always a final option. It should certainly not be made in the heat of the moment and in the face of, as yet, unclear facts and confusing narratives,” she added
CBCP issues condemnation
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) deplored the Mamasapano massacre as an “utterly senseless act of violence” in Mindanao.
CBCP President and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, however, clarified that “while the CBCP condemns such violence, we cannot side with those who call for the discontinuance of peace talks.”
At the Senate, pro-administration Sen. Koko Pimentel asserted that the bloody incident should not lead to the suspension of the peace talks with Moro rebels. “On the contrary, the Bangsamoro Basic Law should be reworded to make it fall within the ambit of the Constitution, and inclusive so that other rebel groups may not have any reason to pursue their own bloody agenda,” he said.
On learning that the Senate hearings on the BBL was suspended indefinitely by Local Government Committee Chairman Sen. Bongbong Marcos, Coloma indicated the Palace is not wavering in its determination to push passage of the BBL and will not abort peace talks with the rebels.
“Patuloy ang pagtataguyod natin at buo pa rin ang ating determinasyon hinggil sa pagkumpleto ng prosesong pangkapayapaan,” he said.
(With Rene Acosta, Joel R. San Juan)