House panel to suspend BBL hearing if Mamasapano reports not submitted

A House of Representatives committee currently deliberating on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) on Monday gave an ultimatum to government agencies to submit their respective reports on the bloody Mamasapano, Maguindanao clash or the panel will suspend the hearing on the BBL.

In a press conference Monday night, House Ad Hoc Committee on the BBL chairman Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez expressed disappointment with the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the local government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) over these government agencies’ non-compliance with the committee’s request for them to submit an incident report on the Mamasapano clash.

Rodriguez said that while PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina submitted a written report to the committee on Monday afternoon, it was about various incidents in Mindanao for the past weeks, with nothing about the Mamasapano incident in it.

The AFP submitted a one-paragraph report on the Mamasapano incident, which, Rodriguez said, was devoid of answers that the committee requested from the military, such as why it was not able to send reinforcement troops to the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) operatives and who specifically ordered them not to send reinforcements.

“Forty-four policemen have died, were killed mercilessly. How can we continue tonight with a report like this? The PNP has nothing to say about the Mamasapano incident while [AFP chief] General Gregorio Catapang has a one-paragraph report,” Rodriguez said.

“They should squarely face the issue. They are evading the questions. With reports like this, this is going to derail everything,” he added.

Rodriguez slammed the OPAPP and the ARMM government for completely ignoring the committee’s request.

“This is indicative of evading the real issues, which we really want to delve into, the issues of the day was what really happened in Mamasapano. This will not help us with proceeding with our deliberations [on the BBL],” Rodriguez said.

On January 25, the SAF troopers conducted a day-long firefight against members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and its splinter group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Mamasapano. The incident led to the death of 44 SAF members, while 12 others were left injured. The MILF announced that 17 of their fighters died in the clash.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas earlier called the incident a “misencounter” as the MILF and the BIFF were not the intended targets of the police force, but Jemaah Islamiyah leader Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan and foreign-trained Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman who is believed to be a high-ranking leader of the Abu Sayyaf group.

Rodriguez said they will give the concerned government agencies until Monday next week, February 9, or the committee will indefinitely suspend the deliberations of the BBL.

“The final deadline is February 9. If we will have another report just like these, then we will suspend all our hearings. We will not proceed if there is no detailed report,” Rodriguez warned.

Meanwhile, a lawmaker from Mindanao pushed for the suspension of the BBL deliberations pending results of investigations into the Mamasapano incident.

In her privilege speech during the House’s plenary session, Zamboanga Del Sur Representative Aurora Enerio-Cerilles voiced her concern about the House ad hoc committee on the BBL’s continued deliberation on the measure following suspicions that the MILF may have a hand in the death of the 44 policemen.

“Mr. Speaker, can we afford to do this in front of the grieving families of the fallen 44? What if the MILF is found liable collectively as a group when the result of the investigation comes out? Do we think the Filipino people would still trust this Congress if it shall continue to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law, or worse, if this law has already been approved before Lenten Season?,” Cerilles said.

“Mr. Speaker, I move that this House Bill No. 4994 [BBL] be set aside in the meantime while there is an on-going investigation being conducted. Let us suspend our actions on this bill until the MILF is found innocent from that bloody incident that resulted to the death of 44 PNP-SAF men,” she added. — BM, GMA News