Senate Directs Gov’t Peace Panel To Secure MILF Mamasapano Report

Senate Directs Gov’t Peace Panel To 

Secure MILF Mamasapano Report

The Senate this week adopted a resolution directing the Philippine peace negotiating panel headed by Chairperson Miriam Coronel-Ferrer to request and secure a copy from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) a copy of its investigation report on the Mamasaspano incident that resulted in the death of 44 elite police commandos.

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who introduced Senate Resolution 1240, said the resolution also directed the government peace panel to formally request from the international monitoring team, a copy of the MILF investigation report.

“We have already read the other reports. We also need to see the MILF investigation report so we will know what really happened,” Marcos told his colleagues during plenary.

The MILF had initia-ted its own investigation on the Mamasapano incident after it has been accused of violating the peace agreement that it entered into with the government.

“There are reports that the MILF Report will be submitted to the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) composed of representatives from Japan, Indonesia and Brunei and supported by the United States and the European Union,” the resolution said.

“For full transparency and accountability, there is a crucial need for the Philippine Government to be properly informed of the full investigation report of the MILF in order to strengthen the ceasefire mechanisms that may be included in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law pending in Congress,” the resolution added.

Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Local Governments, said his committee will resume BBL deliberations on April 13.

“I have scheduled the  hearing  April 13 to specifically  look at the ceasefire mechanisms in case of  encounters like what happened in Mamasapano,”  the  committee chairman, Marcos  Jr., earlier said in a press conference. /MP