By Jelly F. Musico
MANILA, Feb. 8 (PNA) – Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III has called for calmness amid calls for the resignation of President Benigno S. Aquino III over the deaths of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in an encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Jan. 25.
”If any, the resignation of the President will only be counter-productive since this will lead to a shake-up in the government. In this highly volatile situation, we need a leader. We need the President to lead us out of these dark days,” Pimentel said in a press statement Sunday.
Pimentel said he understand the sentiments of the people “but what we need right now is to find out the truth about the incident.”
”Let’s ferret out the truth so that we can bring to the bar of justice those who are accountable for the deaths of our fallen 44 heroes,” Pimentel, a Mindanao lawmaker, said.
Pimentel has instead asked the public to give the President and the government “a chance to right the wrong.”
Last Friday, President Aquino accepted effective immediately the resignation of suspended PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima amid reports that the latter directed the operation to get two high-profile terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and Abdul Basit Usman despite being suspended by the Ombudsman on corruption charges.
Marwan was killed in the operation but 44 of the 392 SAF men were also killed after they encountered a combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Usman, also a bomb maker like Marwan, was able to escape, prompting President Aquino to ask the MILF cooperation to arrest the terrorist BIFF commander.
The Senate is set to conduct an inquiry on the Mamasapano encounter on Monday.
The Senate Committee on Local Government has also temporarily suspended its public hearing on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) following the encounter between the SAF troopers and the MILF and BIFF forces. (PNA)