Bad news for President Benigno S. Aquino III. The Senate is set to reopen the Mamasapano incident in which 44 members of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force perished in a gun battle with elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
At the instance of Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile who is in possession of new evidence, the inquiry by the committee on public order headed by Senator Grace Poe is reopening the case on Jan. 25—the same day exactly a year ago the massacre took place in a marshy field in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. The Special Action Force commandos were withdrawing after a police operation code-named Oplan Exodus took out international terrorist Zufliki Marwan. Caught in an open field, the outnumbered policemen engaged the MILF-BIFF guerrillas in a fierce gun battle until they ran out of ammunition. Those who surrendered were mercilessly butchered by their captors which was why the incident became known as the Mamasapano massacre.
Sources at the Senate said Enrile’s new information is based on the stand-down order of President Benigno Aquino not to provide artillery fire and reinforcements to the beleaguered police commandos who came under fire in an open field. Apparently, the information on Aquino’s stand-down order was provided by sacked PNP-SAF commander Gen. Getulio Napeñas, who was made the scapegoat of the botched police operation. Probably fearing the consequences of a tell-all testimony, Napeñas kept his silence and did not divulge this vital information during the first Senate hearing.
The reason given for the stand-down order, according to the same sources, said the President did not want to jeopardize the peace process and the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law pending approval by Congress. Aquino and key Cabinet officials were in nearby Zamboanga while the fighting was raging in Maguindanao reportedly waiting for word of the successful police operation that turned tragic. Aquino broke the chain of command when he put suspended PNP police chief Alan Purisima in charge of the ill-fated mission.
Doing damage control early, Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the President already owned up to his role but did not break the chain of command. President Aquino while in office has immunity from civil and criminal suits but he can be impeached for violation and betrayal of the Constitution if his culpability in the loss of 44 lives is proven beyond reasonable doubt.
But is it enough to claim responsibility without the corresponding consequences for his lapse in judgment?
The President could be answerable for sacrificing 44 lives to preserve the peace process and the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law he deemed would be his legacy when he leaves office on June 30 this year. Mamasapano, instead, could be Aquino’s Waterloo.
It is doubtful, however, that Congress would find time in the middle of the political campaign to muster a quorum for an impeachment proceeding. Private parties who want to file charges against Aquino will also have to wait when the President loses his immunity.
The political personalities in this case bear watching. The chairperson of the Senate committee conducting the hearing is Senator Grace Poe who is running for president. Former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas who was kept out of the loop in the secret police ops is also running for president. General Napeñas is seeking a seat in the Senate. Enrile is a former defense minister during the Marcos martial law years and still has a lot of intelligence sources in the military. While he is no longer running for public office and is looking at retirement in his home province of Cagayan, the venerable 91-year-old Senate leader wants closure to this case but only after full disclosure of all the details and circumstances surrounding the tragic incident.
Former PNP chief Purisima has already retired from the service but he could still be subpoenaed and questioned again in the Senate.
Will the Senate hearing arrive at the inconvenient truth in search of justice for the victims and relatives of the Fallen 44, or will it serve as a stage for politics? The outcome of the Senate hearing is crucial for Aquino as much as for his chosen candidate to get elected president. He needs presidential protection as soon as he becomes plain Citizen Aquino. Or presidential pardon in case he gets convicted. Will Aquino be accorded the same treatment he gave former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo?
Talk about poetic justice, or karma. Indeed, what goes around, comes around. The Mamasapano tragedy has all the elements of a Greek play.