Duterte claims he was with PNoy in Zamboanga during Mamasapano clash

Presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has claimed that he was with President Benigno Aquino III in Zamboanga City last year during the January 25 Mamasapano incident.

A report on Unang Balita on Monday said that according to Duterte, it was then Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, also a presidential aspirant, who invited him to join Aquino at the Edwin Andrews Airbase in Zamboanga City on January 25 last year.

The report said that Duterte refused to disclose details of his attendance at the airbase, saying these were confidential.

The mayor made the revelation during his meeting over the weekend with the families of some members of the Special Action Force who were slain during the Mamasapano incident.

Among those who met with Duterte was the family of Senior Inspector Gebnat Tabdi, one of the two SAF 44 members who will be posthumously awarded with the medal of valor during the Mamasapano incident's first anniversary commemoration at the Philippine National Police headquarters on Monday.

Duterte said he is hoping that the truth will finally be revealed during the reopening of the Mamasapano probe on Wednesday, January 27.

The Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by presidential aspirant Sen. Grace Poe has invited several incumbent and former officials of the government, the police and military to attend the hearing on Wednesday.

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, who requested for the reopening of the probe, has claimed he has evidence that Aquino was directly and actively involved in the Mamasapano mission.

Enrile had said in an interview with radio dzBB that he wanted to know why Aquino went to Zamboanga City on January 25 last year, when it was the birthday of his late mother, President Corazon Aquino.

"Iyon ang gusto kong malaman at palagay ko iyon din ang gustong malaman ng madla. Ano ba ang ginagawa ng presidente noong araw na iyon, Sunday iyon eh. Nagpunta siya sa Zamboanga kahit may seremonya dito sa Maynila na prinepara ng kanyang pamilya doon sa Manila Memorial Cemetery sa ika-82 birthday celebration ng kanyabng yumaong ina, si dating Pangulong Corazon C. Aquino," Enrile said during the dzBB interview last January 17.

"May importanteng official business ba siya sa Zamboanga upang iwanan ang family affair na iyono na tungkol sa nanay niya," he added.

The senator further asked: "Ngayon noong nandoon na siya sa Zamboanga, alam ba niya ang nangyayari? Wala siyang imik eh. Palagay ko naman ang taumbayan gustong malaman iyon." —ALG, GMA News