“The public should know,” said Magalong in a text message to GMA News Online. Magalong is also head of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
“But it depends on SILG [Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Manuel Roxas II], who has the final say. It was he who created the BOI,” he added.
At the same time, Magalong said the Board will “definitely” submit the report on Thursday, adding that the turnover will be announced to members of the media by PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina.
On Wednesday, Espina told reporters that the decision to make the BOI report public is up to the members of the Board and higher officials.
The BOI was supposed to submit its report on the Mamasapano bloodbath by end of February, but the team had asked for an extension twice since last week.
Forty-four elite police troopers died during the Mamasapano clash with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, members of its splinter group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, and some gunmen of other armed groups in Maguindanao.
At the time, the police commandos were on a mission to arrest Malaysian terrorist Zulkifi bin Hir alias Marwan of Jemaah Islamiyah and Filipino bomb-maker and Abu Sayyaf member Basit Usman. Authorities claimed Marwan was killed but Usman was able to escape.
The BOI was created to look into the circumstances surrounding the bloody clash, which also left 18 MILF fighters and five civilians dead.
Over the weekend, Magalong expressed confidence that relatives of Special Action Force (SAF) troopers killed in the clash will be satisfied with the results of the probe.
Asked if report will answer questions that the families of the slain SAF men and of surviving troopers raised, Magalong said they will be satisfied as their probe was done “in the most truthful manner.” — LBG/RSJ, GMA News
