Press Release
November 11, 2017

Dispatch from Crame 195
Sen. Leila M. de Lima' s Statement on the filing of charges against former President Noynoy Aquino in relation to the Mamasapano incident

11/11/17

The Mamasapano Tragedy is one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" decisions a President makes. It was a choice between letting a terrorist bomber slip away once again to wreak more destruction on civilians, or capture him with the concomitant risks an operation such as his capture in hostile territory entails.

President Aquino, as Citizen Noynoy, will now have the opportunity to present his case before our tribunals, of how he, as President, made the difficult choice of ordering the capture of a most wanted terrorist, but with the possibility of casualties on the government side, as what eventually happened. I have no doubt that, armed with a firm conviction as to the merits or soundness of his judgment call in the light of then available information supplied to him and honorable as he is, PNoy is capable of defending himself, not only before the tribunals of justice, but more importantly, before the judgment of history and the people he so faithfully served.

Do we even care how many hundreds of civilian lives were saved, at the cost of 44 of our bravest and noblest? Whether we like it or not, that is how our government asks our soldiers and our policemen to put their lives at risk, and if need be, to be the first to die, in order for us to live in peace. Let us not forget that in the trial of Citizen Noynoy.

I wholeheartedly wish vindication for PNoy

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