SAF 44 families will not join Ombudsman case v. Noynoy — VACC counsel

The families of the 44 PNP-Special Action Force commandos slain in action in the 2015 Mamasapano encounter will not join the proceedings at the Office of the Ombudsman against former President Benigno Aquino III for the bloody encounter.

Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) legal counsel Ferdinand Topacio said in a report by Tina Panganiban Perez on 24 Oras that the Ombudsman is protecting Aquino from more grievous charges with these complaints.

"We say again that the said charges are designed to fail—in order to inoculate President Aquino against the graver charge of mass homicide which could possibly put him behind bars for the rest of his life," Topacio said on Wednesday.

Aquino was formally charged with violation of Section 3(a) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and usurpation of official function as defined under Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code.

He was the only respondent in the case filed at Sandiganbayan, as former PNP chief Alan Purisima and former SAF Director Getulio Napeñas, indicted with Aquino last July, face the same offense before the Ombudsman's Fourth Division.

In lieu of Aquino's own response, the Liberal Party said the former president "did not commit any criminal act or violated any laws or the Constitution."

"He will clear his name in court and prove he is innocent of the charges. We believe the court will afford him due process and fair trial," the party said in a statement.

In a rare move, President Rodrigo Duterte agreed with fierce critic Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in saying that Aquino should not be charged as it was Napeñas who had full command of the SAF troopers.

"For the first time, or for the second, third time, Trillanes has a good point there. The president has the supervision and control. Supervision and control means he can overturn your decision or will decide to exercise the function itself," Duterte said.

He did not comment on Trillanes' saying that, despite his misgivings, the Ombudsman showed impartiality in filing cases in contrast with Duterte's accusation of selective justice against the anti-graft body. — Rie Takumi/BM, GMA News