PNoy, 3 PNP execs responsible for Mamasapano debacle —Miriam

By AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMA News

Published February 12, 2015 1:10pm

President Benigno Aquino III and the three high ranking police officials who knew about the Mamasapano operation should be held responsible for the deaths of 44 police commandos that figured in the unplanned firefight with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and its breakaway group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said on Thursday.

Santiago, a former regional trial court judge, made the remark after a Senate hearing on the Mamasapano clash, in which she pointed out the administrative and operational lapses committed by then suspended PNP chief Director-General Alan Purisima and relieved PNP-Special Action Force director Director Getulio Napeñas Jr.

"We can segregate them from the rest of the people involved because of the admissions made during the hearing that they had consultations that were just the three of them, including [Intelligence Group Director Fernando Mendez]," Santiago told reporters.

She was referring to the Bahay ng Pangarap meeting on Jan. 9 as regards the mission to neutralize suspected international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan.

Aquino, Purisima, Napeñas and Mendez were the only ones present during the "mission update" meeting at the President's official residence.

"[Certainly] this was all part of the discharge by the President of his functions as commander-in-chief of the Philippine Armed Forces. So, in effect, all four must assume responsibility for the failure—in fact not only failure, but the massacre that took place," Santiago said.

"I am naming President Aquino because I don’t think it serves public interest to fudge the issue—to never mention his name, like he was some sacred cow. I don’t think he needs my protection. He can stand for himself," she added.

Liabilities

Asked how the President and the three police officers who knew about the operation could be held accountable, Santiago said that except for the Chief Executive, they could be charged before the country's courts.

"They can be charged as civilians in civilian courts, and undergo the process of preliminary investigation before the Ombudsman," Santiago said.

"With the President, you cannot do a thing. He has immunity from suit, except impeachment. But he loses that immunity when he leaves office in 2016," she added, indicating Aquino could be charged in connection with the incident after his term ends.

Santiago expressed doubt that Aquino could be impeached because his allies control the House of Representatives, where impeachment complaints are filed.

"Impeachment is not purely a question of law, but a question of how many votes he has in either chamber. If his party, the Liberal Party, has enough votes, they can kill an impeachment complaint in the Lower House alone, so it will never reach the Senate," Santiago said.

"Most people discount the possibility of impeachment because he has widespread support among the representatives and the senators," she added.

Officials at the hearing indicated to the Senate inquiry that they did not immediately inform Aquino about the brewing carnage in Mamasapano.

They include Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, who even joined Aquino in Zamboanga for a series of activities including a security briefing.

When it was his turn to be asked, Purisima, meanwhile, said he had to seek Aquino's clearance before answering the question.

"Your honor, may I be given time to seek clearance from the President to answer that question?" Purisima told Senator Grace Poe.

‘Scapegoat’

Santiago said Aquino had not been completely forthcoming regarding his role in the Jan. 25 Mamasapano operation that led to the deaths of 44 elite policemen.

Santiago went as far as to say that relieved Napeñas was the "scapegoat" in the operation.

Asked if she thinks Aquino was forthcoming about his role in the incident, Santiago said, “No, not completely.”

The SAF members were killed when the operation, designed to arrest two high-profile terrorists, resulted in an encounter with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has an existing peace agreement with the government.

On Aquino's statement that the operation to arrest Malaysian Julkifli bin Hir and Filipino bomb-maker Basit Usman did not need his go-signal, Santiago said, “I don’t believe that for a minute, I’m sorry.”

“He had a direct hand from the very beginning according to his own admission. 'Yun lang, ang version niya [ay] in the due course of the four years' time that it took to catch these terrorists, he dropped out of the line of command because anyway people already understood what his position was. I don’t buy that,” she added.

Lapses

Santiago said the Mamasapano operation—from planning to execution—was full of lapses.

On the third day of the Senate investigation on the incident, Santiago grilled Napeñas, pointing out to him why she thought the operation led to the deaths of the 44 SAF men.

Defensor mentioned the early-morning timing of the operation, saying that Muslims are usually awake even before 5 a.m. for their morning prayers.

“The timing was bad, because Muslims are already awake before 5 a.m., the time when they start their morning prayers,” she said.

“When the SAF shot Marwan to death, nung nagkaputukan na, narinig ng MILF Base Command at siyempre pumunta na sila,” she added.

Santiago said Napeñas had no choice but to take full responsibility for the operation.

Otherwise, she said, the fault of resigned PNP chief Purisima, who is close to Aquino, would be placed under the spotlight.

“Ito naman si Napeñas [ay] walang choice. Kung pipiliin na si Purisima will take responsibility, aaminin nila na he violated the terms of his preventive suspension, that’s why it had to be Napeñas,” she said.

Purisima was already under suspension by the Ombudsman over graft charges when the Mamasapano clash occurred, but he was still attending meetings and briefings regarding the operation.

Because of this, Santiago urged the President and other officials involved in the operation to tell the public the truth.

“It is important that you must know what happened, that government must not hide the truth from its own people. That is the politics of lying. Our government should not fall into the same temptation,” she said. —KBK/NB/KG, GMA News

Tags: miriamdefensorsantiago, mamasapanoclash