Press Release
January 22, 2016

POE CALLS ON RESOURCE PERSONS TO ATTEND
MAMASAPANO PROBE

The sooner the Mamasapano investigation is over, the sooner everyone can move on, said Sen. Grace Poe as she called on invited resource persons to attend the hearing and put to rest, once and for all, all issues surrounding the ill-fated operation.

The Senate Committee on Public Order, which Poe chairs, has invited 24 resource persons, most of them officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), for the re-opening of the investigation on January 27.

The list includes Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, former AFP Chief of Staff Gregorio Catapang, retired PNP chief Alan Purisima, and former PNP Special Action Force (SAF) Director Getulio Napenas.

In a radio interview, Poe encouraged all resource persons to attend voluntarily and not wait for the committee to issue them a subpoena as it will only prolong the process.

"Hinihikayat ko lahat ng inimbitahan at pinadalahan namin ng liham na dumalo para mas mabilis na natin matapos ito. Kung hindi sila dumalo, mas matatagalan sapagkat baka ipatawag sila muli sa isa na namang pagdinig," the senator said.

"Alam naman natin na matagal na itong sugat na ito na napakabagal din maghilom. Ang paglalahad ng kanilang nalalaman ay isang proseso para pagalingin na rin natin lahat ng mga hinanaing at sakit natin," she said.

She said senators have agreed to give the floor to Minority Leader Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who moved for the re-opening of the investigation, citing new information that would directly link President Beningo Aquino III to the operation that killed 44 SAF commandos.

Enrile was in detention for plunder during the Mamasapano hearings last year.

"Para sa interes din nating lahat na matanong niya ang sabi niyang hindi pa natatanong para naman malaman natin kung mayroon ngang pagkukulang. Ang pakay natin dito ay maisaayos ang batas na huwag na maulit ang ganitong klaseng trahedya at magkaroon naman ng hustisya ang mga biktima,"Poe said.

She, however, believes that the President should not and cannot be compelled to attend the inquiry.

"Ang Pangulo ay mayroong immunity. Hindi naman natin siya pwedeng pilitin na dumalo sa ganitong pagdinig. Siguro kung magkakaroon ng affidavit ang ating Pangulo na sinumpaan din, pwedeng gamitin ito na basehan," Poe said.

Confident that everything has been covered in the public hearings last year, she said, she is standing by the committee reports signed by 21 senators. Poe cautioned returning resource persons that they would be held liable if found to have withheld information that they already had during the series of hearings and executive sessions last year.

"Ang puno't dulo ng pagdinig na ito ay para malaman kung ano talaga ang nangyari. Dapat boluntaryo na nilang ibinigay kung ano man ang nalalaman nila. Kaya hindi rin ako bilib sa mga nagsasabi na, 'e, depende sa tanong.' E kung mayroon pa palang kulang, sila na mismo dapat ang boluntaryong nagsabi niyan nung nag-executive session kami," she said.

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