Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has hinted about the existence of potentially damning evidence against the Aquino administration concerning its action after it got wind of the clash between police commandos and armed groups in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
In a meeting with the relatives of the 44 fallen Special Action Force (SAF) troopers on Sunday (Jan. 24), Duterte said his knowledge came from the time he spent with President Benigno Aquino III and other high ranking government officials in Zamboanga City at the time the carnage took place because he was also getting updates about the bombings there.
“I know something about the government action during the Mamasapano incident because I was at the base camp with President Aquino, and if I am called to the Senate inquiry I will tell the truth of what I know because I have the moral obligation to tell what I know,” Duterte said in a report published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
He said he was invited to the Edwin Andrews Air Force Base on the afternoon of Jan. 25 by then Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. It was at the camp, he said, that he heard government officials discuss the Mamasapano encounter.
“What I heard and observed in that base camp was confidential at this time, but if the lies continue, I would be forced to tell the truth,” Duterte said.
The feisty mayor said the troops sent to arrest wanted terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Abdul Basit Usman were practically “thrown into the lion’s lair” when they carried out the mission because they were ill-prepared.
The Senate will reopen its investigation into the Mamasapano controversy on Jan. 27.
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