Dasmarinas City Representative Elpidio Barzaga Jr. has backed the decision of the House of Representatives leadership to stop any move to invite President Benigno Aquino III to its hearings  on the Mamasapano incident that killed 44 elite police officers last January 25.

Barzaga, the  vice president  for external affairs of the National Unity Party (NUP), said the House Committee on Public Safety and Order should focus on filling the gaps in the reports of the Senate and the Board of Inquiry of the Philippine National Police (PNP), which both held separate investigations into the incident.

“We should respect the President’s wish. He declared in his Philippine National Police Academy speech on Thursday [March 26, 2015]  that that would be the last time he would speak on the issue. We should respect that,” Barzaga said.

Forty-four Special Action Force (SAF) commandos of the PNP  were killed during a clash with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)  and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) last Jan. 25, 2015 in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. The SAF commandoes were on a mission to arrest  Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan” and Filipino Basit Usman.  

The House public order committee chaired by Negros Occidental Representative Jeffrey Ferrer  and the House Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity led by Jim Hataman-Salliman are set to resume their joint inquiry into the Mamasapano incident on April 7 and 8, 2015. 

Ferrer is also an NUP member.

The attack by the MILF, which has forged a peace agreement with the government,  has sparked public outrage and calls for the President to apologize for the botched operation.

But Barzaga thumbed down calls for the President to issue a public apology.

“Clearly, there’s malice behind his call. Their ulterior motive is to destroy the administration using the death of 44 policemen in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan. 25,” he said. “Their call for an apology is not only malicious but misplaced, because the issue being raised against the President is not even graft-related,” he said.

Barzaga said that the President had already taken responsibility for the Mamasapano incident and reiterated it during his speech before graduates of the PNPA last March 26.

“Once more, the President took responsibility. He declared he would bring this tragedy with him until his final day. He spoke the truth – the sadness brought about by the deaths of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) troopers could never be remedied by any speech or report,” Barzaga noted.

The lawmaker also pointed out that  the Mamasapano operation “was a success in the sense that the police killed their principal target,” which was Marwan.