GUINGONA FILES BILL SEEKING TO CREATE AN INDEPENDENT AD HOC FACT-FINDING COMMISSION ON THE EVENTS THAT LED TO THE DEATHS OF SAF MEMBERS

Along with colleagues in the Senate, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, Senator Teofisto "TG" Guingona III files a bill seeking to create a fact-finding commission that will shed light on the clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that led to the deaths of 44 members of the Special Action Forces of the Philippine National Police.

"As one of the few representatives of Mindanao in the Senate, this tragic incident has struck me deeply, and I am one with the nation in mourning our brave heroes," says Guingona. "The only way we can heal as a nation and honor our fallen warriors is to get to the truth of what exactly occurred in Mamasapano."

On January 25, 2015, Forty-four (44) of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP SAF) were killed in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, during a clash with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The mission was to serve arrest warrants to two suspected terrorists - Malaysian Jemaah Islamiyah leader Zulkifli bin Hir also known as "Marwan" and Filipino bomb maker Abdulbasit Usman.

According to Guingona, the facts and circumstances remain unclear as to how this tragedy occurred.

In the proposed bill, an independent ad hoc fact-finding Commission shall be created and will be composed of a Chairman and two commissioners, who will act as a collegial body.

"More than 40 of our bravest elite police force perished," says Guingona. "The creation of this Commission shall be our humble way of honoring our fallen heroes, who served the country with excellence, valor and patriotism. We should not allow their deaths to be in vain."