PNoy says Purisima knew of ops in Mamasapano, unaware why Roxas didn't 

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima continued to advise President Benigno Aquino III on the plan to arrest suspected Jemaah Islamiya leader Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Commander Marwan, even if was serving a six-month preventive suspension because of a graft charge before the Ombudsman.

President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday said Purisima was aware of the Sunday police operation in Maguindanao, which left 44 elite law enforcers dead in the hands of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Mamasapano town.

 

“Was General Purisima involved? He was Chief PNP reporting to me starting roughly from around May last year. I was talking directly to the SAF Director, and if all, yung sa jargon, tinutulungan ako ni General Purisima to understand it. He was involved directly up to the time he was suspended by the Ombudsman,” Aquino told reporters after his televised speech.

“After [his suspension], siya na very knowledgeable about the whole thing, pinapaliwanag niya sa akin yung intricacies of what the plan presented to me was,” Aquino said.

 

Aquino, however, could not explain why  Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Acting PNP Chief Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina were unaware of the operations. 

 

“Let me look into bakit di alam ni Secretary Roxas or Deputy Director Espina. That will be borne out sa inquiry, but there were points before nung na abort, that we have discussed this particular operation,” he said.