Malacanang not interested in bounty for Marwan –PCOO chief

President Benigno Aquino III delivers his message about the Mamasapano clash (Malacanang Photo Bureau)

MANILA — Malacanang is not interested in the bounty for Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as “Manwar,” who was reportedly killed during the operations of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan. 25, 2015.

In a briefing Thursday, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said they are not after the money but to get to the bottom of things.

”Ang pokus ng administrasyon ay yung pag-alam ng buong katotohanan, yung paggawad ng katarungan sa pagbubuwis ng buhay ng mga tropa ng PNP-SAF at yung pagbibigay sa kanilang pamilya ng ganap na suporta o tulong para maibalik sa ayos ang kanilang buhay (Our focus is to know the whole truth, to give justice to the PNP-SAF members who gave up their lives and to help their families),” he said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a USD 5 million bounty for Marwan’s arrest.

Reports said results of the initial tests conducted by the FBI on the DNA samples submitted by the Philippine government to the US confirmed that Marwan was among those who died during the SAF operations last Jan. 25.

Coloma stressed that since the start, Malacanang has confirmed that the police have neutralized the wanted terrorist during the SAF operations, which in turn resulted to the death of 44 members of the police’s elite group.

He also called on the public as well as members of the military and the police not to be swayed by talks about loyalty check, destabilization against President Benigno Aquino III due to the death of the SAF members, and resignation calls for the President.

Coloma explained that what happened to the SAF members was really hard to accept but pointed out that this was part of the move to achieve the long-awaited peace in Mindanao.

He also said that despite what happened in Mamasapano, the government continues to get feedbacks from other countries for the former to continue to push for the peace agreement.

He said the peace talks would always be derailed by sectors against this agenda, thus, he asked the public to be calm and not be swayed by negative talks.