The House committee investigating the January 25 incident that led to the massacre of  44 Special Action Force (SAF)  commandos in the town of Mamasapano in Maguindanao will resume its probe on April 7 and 8. 

Negros Occidental Representative Jeffrey Ferrer, the chairperson of the Committee on Public Safety and Order, said the investigation will have to continue before the House reopens its deliberations on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Both houses of Congress have deferred their discussions on the proposed BBL, which will form the legal basis for the creation of a new autonomous Bangsamoro region in Mindanao, after the bloody Mamasapano incident.

The Aquino administration has pledged the passage and enactment into law of the BBL to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The BBL was a key element in forging a peace agreement between the government and the MILF.

“We cannot deliberate on the Bangsamoro Basic Law unless we are through with our report on the Mamasapano incident,” said Ferrer, a member of the National Unity Party (NUP).

Forty-four members of the SAF, the elite force of the Philippine National Police (PNP), were attacked and killed by members of the MILF and its supposed splinter group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) while on a mission to arrest Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan” and Filipino Basit Usman last January 25, 2015. 

The attack has sparked public outrage and vigorous calls for either the scrapping or a thorough review of the BBL.

Both the Senate and the House conducted separate inquiries into the Mamasapano incident. While the Senate pushed through and has already concluded its investigation, the House cancelled its probe after one hearing, preferring instead to wait for the results of the PNP’s Board of Inquiry on the incident.

To help ensure the smooth flow of the investigation, Ferrer requested his colleagues to focus on the probe itself, rather than on parliamentary procedures when the committee  resumes its hearings.

He said the decision on whether to invite President Benigno Aquino III to the hearing, which is being pushed by the minority bloc in the House,  will depend on the decision of the majority of the committee members.