Gordon wants Mamasapano hearing opened again

Senator Richard Gordon on Sunday said he is planning to ask for a reopening of the Senate's inquiry into the Mamasapano incident following the Office of the Ombudsman's recommendation to file graft and usurpation of authority charges against former President Benigno Aquino III.

"Pero ako gusto kong buksan iyang Mamasapano case... Talagang may balak ako," Gordon said when asked in a radio dzBB interview if he wants to reopen the investigation on the Mamasapano incident, where 44 members of the Special Action Force were killed in an operation against terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan in January 2015.

The senator said the hearing may still be reopened because it has not been ultimately closed by the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, then headed by Sen. Grace Poe and now chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

"Bakit ba pagka malalaking tao na ang involved ay nag-aagamagam na ilabas ang katotohanan," he said.

The Office of the Ombudsman has recommended the filing of graft and usurpation of authority charges against Aquino and former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima and former SAF director Getulio Napeñas.

Gordon believes that the Ombudsman's recommended charges against the former president are weak.

"I woud have filed graver charges, multiple homicide through reckless imprudence," he said, which supports the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption's complaint filed before the Ombudsman against Aquino.

Gordon said if the Senate reopens the Mamasapano hearing, he may call for the presence of the former president.

"Nobody will be exempted from this... He has to man up and face the consequences," he added.

In a separate radio dzBB interview, Senator Franklin Drilon said that there was no need for another reopening of the Mamasapano hearing.

"Ano pa ba ang ating gagawin para buksan natin ulit. For what, in aid of legislation? Siguro naman sapat na ang nailabas sa dalawang pagdinig ng nakaraang Kongreso. Tutol po ako diyan at tingin ko ay hindi po kailangan," Drilon said.

The public order committee had issued a report on the Mamasapano hearings, where Aquino was found "ultimately responsible" for the carnage.

In January 2016, the Mamasapano was reopened based on the motion of former senator Juan Ponce Enrile.

In closing the reopened Mamapano hearing, Poe ruled that there were no new issues heard during the session.

Meanwhile, Drilon said that Ombudsman's recommendation to file criminal charges against Aquino gives the former president an opportunity to air his side.

"This will give an opportunity for President Noy to clarify everything dahil sa amin sa Senado, 'di naman siya nagkaroon ng pagkakataon na magpaliwanag tungkol dito," he said. —ALG, GMA News