President Aquino Meets with Families of PNP-SAF 44, Checks Status of Assistance Being Given

President Benigno S. Aquino III on Wednesday evening met anew with the families of 42 of the 44 troopers of the police’s Special Action Force (SAF) killed last month in an encounter with Moro rebels, to fulfill the government’s commitment to provide them assistance.

President Aquino, accompanied by some members of his Cabinet, spent time to talk to each of the bereaved families of the fallen commandos at the Multipurpose Center of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Relatives of the slain SAF members on Wednesday gathered at the PNP headquarters for the event dubbed as “PNP Welfare Services for the Beneficiaries of SAF 44.”

To ensure that the government is meeting its commitments, President Aquino personally checked the status of the assistance being provided by the concerned agencies to the bereaved families.

During the meeting, each family also had the chance to raise to the President other concerns.

The assistance being given to the relatives of the slain SAF troopers includes employment, education, housing, health, and livelihood, apart from the monetary assistance from the President’s Social Fund.

President Aquino arrived at the PNP headquarters before 6 p.m. and spent six hours speaking to the bereaved families. The Chief Executive left Camp Crame at 12 midnight.

Cabinet officials present to assist the families were Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman, Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, and National Housing Authority General Manager Chito Cruz.

Also in attendance were Acting Health Secretary Janette Garin, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, Commission on Higher Education Chairperson Patricia Licuanan, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Presidential Management Staff head Julia Abad, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief Joel Villanueva.

Some 44 members of the SAF elite force deployed to serve warrants of arrest to terrorist suspects, Abdulbasit Usman and Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Abu Marwan, perished in a tragic encounter with Moro rebels in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao province on January 25.

In a televised address to the nation on January 28, President Aquino assured the families of the troopers that the government would provide them the maximum assistance it could, within the limits of the law.

President Aquino and the relatives of the fallen policemen had their initial meeting on January 30 at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. During the said meeting, the families shared with the President their requests for assistance. PND (co)