Palace execs to face Mamasapano probe

Government officials who will be summoned at the reopening of the Mamasapano probe in the Senate will not invoke executive privilege. In a statement issued yesterday, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. assured that any official from the Executive branch who will be summoned by the Senate panel will participate and answer all inquiries in the interest of transparency and public accountability. “The government will heed the invitation of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs and reply to all pertinent questions that may be asked at the hearing in the interest of transparency and public accountability,” said Coloma, one of the officials who will be summoned to face the probe set to reopen on January 27. Other government officials on the list of those invited to face the Senate probe include Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, and former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, [...]