So the re-opening of the Senate hearing on the SAF 44 massacre is pushing through after all, set for January 25. I got this text message from the Office of the Vice President Communication Team that General Getulio Napenas, the sacked commander of the slain PNP commandos, welcomes the development, and that’s for obvious reasons. Aside from the 44 brave elite police combatants who died fighting to the last man in a day-long gun battle with MILF troops, General Napenas has been the only other casualty on the government side of the tragic incident in Mamasapano, Mangindanao. He was relieved forever from service as a consequence. Certainly resumption of the Upper House investigation of the Mamasapano carnage affords him the chance to speak up further, say things otherwise left unsaid in the initial rounds of investigation, thereby enabling him to push his personally-imposed mission of seeking justice for the fallen SAF 44. [But the Aquino forces in the House reopend hearing would of course move to turn it into a means for delivering a report that absolves him from any blame.]

For this column, a number of concerns must be addressed.

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