BOI affirms Napeñas faults in Mamasapano mission

The PNP Board of Inquiry into the Mamasapano incident affirmed the faults of sacked Special Action Force Dir. Getulio Napeñas Jr., who has been primarily blamed for the bloody encounter, particularly by President Benigno Aquino III and resigned PNP chief Director-General Alan Purisima.

 

The results of the investigation, released Friday, pointed out that among Napeñas' faults in the planning and execution of the incident were: his proposal of using the time-on-target concept,  as well as him following the intructions of then-suspended PNP chief Purisima.

 

Napeñas was at overseeing Oplan Exodus, the mission to serve arrest warrants against wanted international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and known bomb-maker Abdul Basit Usman.

 

A subsequent clash that occurred during the troops' exit after killing Marwan led to the deaths of 44 elite police officers, 18 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and five civilians.

 

"Based on the records, Napeñas admitted that he had command responsibility with respect to Oplan Exodus," the report said, stressing the importance of such concept "in discovering the facts that led to such deaths."

 

The report also described the former SAF chief as "a long-time member of the elite force ... [who] said that the ordeal had already exhausted him, having spent many years in pursuit of the elusive terrorist."

 

Violating chain of command

 

The inquiry board said Napeñas, together with Purisima and Aquino, "kept the information to themselves and deliberately failed to inform" PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Dir. Gen. Leonardo Espina and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

 

Napeñas was found to have violated the chain of command when he followed Purisima's instructions not to inform his two superiors "despite his knowledge of the suspension order issued by the Ombudsman" against the former PNP chief, the report said.

 

Earlier during the House probe on the clash, Napeñas admitted that he followed Purisima, who said Espina and Roxas should not be informed yet. 

 

In a position paper submitted to the Senate, however, Purisima said Napeñas should have known that "he cannot and should not follow orders from anyone who is not in his command line, such as from a suspended police officer." 

 

He added that the sacked SAF chief was "already predisposed not to inform" the two officials even without his advice.

 

Time-on-target 'not acceptable'

 

The BOI report also said that time-on-target coordination, which was proposed and eventually carried out by Napeñas, "does not conform to the established and acceptable operational concepts and protocols of the PNP." 

 

The said concept "is applicable only to ordinary police operations," the report said, adding: "Even AFP commanders asserted that the TOT concept is alien to the Armed Forces and runs counter to their established SOPs."

 

The BOI said: "It appears that Napeñas' primary consideration for adopting the TOT concept was operational security to reduce the risk of having Oplan Exodus compromised ... However, Napeñas failed to consider the consequences of the TOT concept vis-a-vis the required mitigating actions. He appeared to have relied heavily on the verbal commitment of the suspended (PNP chief Dir. Gen. Alan) Purisima to arrange for the needed AFP support."

 

Napeñas' 'failed' plan, supervision

 

It also pointed out that Napeñas "failed to effectively supervise, control and direct personnel, which resulted in heavy casualties" on the part of the SAF commandos in the encounter.

 

The report said Oplan Exodus "[could] never be executed effectively because it was defective from the very beginning."

 

It elaborated that the mission planning for the said operation was defective due to:

* poor analysis of the area of operation

* unrealistic assumptions

* poor intelligence estimate

* absence of abort criteria

* lack of flexibility in its concept of operations

* inappropriate application of time-on-target [concept]; and

* absence of prior coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the peace mechanisms. 

 

Aquino 'fooled'

 

Earlier, Aquino claimed that Napeñas "fooled" him about the operation, saying he "was given the wrong information" and that the sacked SAF chief turned the Mamasapano operation into a "mission impossible."

 

"Maliwanag sa akin, binola niya ako," the President said during a prayer meeting and dialogue with religious leaders at Malacañang last March 9, where he enumerated the errors allegedly committed by Napeñas.

 

He added: "Maraming wishful thinking si Napeñas compared to reality... Kung alam ko na ganito ang gagawin niya from the start ay hinindian ko ho itong misyon na ito."

 

Napeñas, through his legal counsel Vitaliano Aguirre, denied this, saying his client also did not take on the operation alone, unlike Aquino's claim. —NB, GMA News