MALACAÑANG said Friday it supports the move of the Office of the Solicitor General to take legal action against former President Benigno Aquino III and hold him accountable for the deaths of 44 Special Action Force commandos in the botched Mamasapano operation.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the Solicitor General, the government’s counsel, was correct in saying the people behind the bloody deaths of the SAF 44 should be held liable.
He said “there ought to be accountability for those responsible for the SAF 44 debacle.”
Roque made his statement even as Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada honored and praised two Manila policemen who were killed in the line of duty and offered prayers for the SAF 44 on the occasion of the 117 years of service of the Manila Police District to the City of Manila.
The MPD is better known as Manila’s Finest, which connotes “Bravery, Dedication and Integrity,” Estrada said.
He asked the audience to join him in a moment of prayer in the memory of Senior Officer 1 Randy Marlon Lebrilla and Police Officer 1 Marmy Ventinilla Montemayor and the 44 brave men of the PNP’S Special Action Force who died in Mamasapano three years ago.
To Estrada, the MPD is his valued partner in keeping Manila safe, secure and peaceful.
The OSG on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to order the filing of homicide charges against Aquino and two former police officials over the bloody Mamasapano encounter in January 2015.
Aside from Aquino, the OSG also said former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima and former SAF director Getulio Napeñas Jr. should be charged with 44 counts of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.
The OSG asked the high court “to direct the Office of the Ombudsman to file forty-four counts of reckless imprudence each resulting in homicide against the respondents Aquino, Purisima and Napeñas.”