Tired of ‘hearings galore,’ Belmonte thumbs down proposed Truth Commission

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has thumbed down the possibility of creating a Truth Commission to investigate the tragic January 25 police operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, a day after Senate committees approved the proposal.

Belmonte said there are already too many ongoing investigations about the covert police operation to arrest two high-value terrorist targets, which ended in the deaths of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos who clashed with Moro rebels.

“We already have investigations galore,” he said in a text message Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Senate committees on peace, unification, and reconciliation; finance; and on public order and dangerous drugs approved a proposal creating a Truth Commission to probe the Mamasapano clash.

The Truth Commission proposed by the Senate would not only probe the incident but also reconcile the outputs of other bodies that conducted investigation on the matter.

Aside from the investigations of the Senate and the House, there were also probes conducted by the Phlippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Bureau of Investigation, and even the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the group that clashed with the SAF members.

Comprehensive probe

A similar proposal to create the Mamasapano Truth Commission has been filed in the House by lawmakers from the progressive Makabayan bloc. The proposed commission will be mandated to thoroughly investigate, report and evaluate all facts and circumstances related to the clash.

Even as Belmonte noted the abundance of hearings on the Mamasapano clash, lawmakers from the progressive Makabayan bloc believe the creation of a Truth Commission is still necessary to determine the truth on what happened in the Maguindanao town last Jan. 25.

“The multilayered and simultaneous probes being conducted by the House of Representatives, the Senate, the PNP Board of Inquiry, the MILF, the Armed Force of the Philippines, the Department of Justice are necessary and timely,” they said.

“It will be best if the Mamasapano Truth Commission should immediately be formed so that a comprehensive probe for truth and accountability can be expedited,” said Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares.

Three-member commission

The lawmakers stressed that the Mamasapano incident has far-reaching consequences and implications, “raising issues of national importance such as the reported role of the US in the bloody operation, President Aquino’s role and command responsibility in the fiasco, the transgression of the PNP’s line of authority, the imperiling of the peace process, and possible violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.”

Under House Bill 5462, the commission shall be composed of a chairperson and two commissioners, to be appointed by the President of the Philippines, who together will act as an independent collegial body.

The chairperson must be a natural born Filipino citizen with good moral character, unquestionable integrity, probity and patriotism and of recognized competence in his/her profession, and should be a member of the Philippine Bar and had been engaged in the practice of law for at least 10 years.

The proposed statute provides for the powers and functions of the Commission, including the conduct of proceedings, among others. —KBK, GMA News