Ex-SAF member in Congress: Coordination results in leaks, bungled operations

Coordinating an operation to catch suspected terrorists add to the risk of leaked information that could lead to failure, a founding member of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force said in a television interview on Wednesday.

ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Samuel Pagdilao, a longtime police officer, made the remark as he sought a House inquiry into the alleged misencounter led to the deaths of 44 policemen in Mamasapano, Maguindanao over the weekend.

Among the matters Pagdilao wanted to know through his proposed investigation was whether each operation had to have the go-ahead of the PNP's top officials.

"Marami na pong attempts na nagyari para mahuli yang mga teroristang yan.  Kaya lang po nag resulta yan sa mga negative operations. Why? Kasi po maraming complikasyon e. Yang mga coordination na yan. Iyan po nagbubunga minsan ng mga pag-leak no ng mga impormasyon kaya po hindi nagtatagumpay yung mga operation," Pagdilao said on GMA News TV's "News to Go."

 

 

Pagdilao said the MILF shouldn't have been "trigger-happy" even if the operation had not been coordinated with them. 

 

"Everybody should be tuned in ang spirit, mindset, at puso na manaig ang kapayapaan," Pagdilao said. 

On Monday, Mohagher Iqbal, Moro group's chief peace negotiator, stressed that the attack launched by members of the MILF against elements of the PNP-SAF was "self-defense" on their part.

 

While peace negotiations are ongoing, MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim said that there are certain "established protocols" between the government forces and the armed group. 

 

However, since the coordination with MIILF has been purportedly waved, "lives are placed in harm's way." 

 

While Pagdilao tagged that the elite cops' operations as "heroic", he said that the House of Representatives will scrutinize the whole operation as a resolution to investigate the incidents was filed over the Lower House.

 

Normally, the former police general said, operations as big as this should be cleared with the PNP's top brass.

 

On Tuesday, Interior Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II said that the leadership of the Philippine National Police was unaware of the operation. 

 

Pagdilao added that the $5 million bounty on Marwan's head was only "incidental" and was not the motive behind the police operation. 

 

"Hindi tinitiningnan at iniisip 'yan. Ang iniisip [ng mga pulis] ay ang tungkulin na maisulong ganap na katahimikan," he said. —NB, GMA News