By Butch Fernandez
DISMISSED National Police chief Alan Purisima, under grilling by senators, on Wednesday sought to exculpate President Aquino from any liability for the slaughter of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos by Moro rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, last year, even as Aquino already assumed “ultimate responsibility” for the massacre of SAF troopers by Moro rebels last year.
Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile pointed out that Purisima himself admitted before senators that he cleared the police personnel deployment for Oplan Exodus, which bagged international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias
Marwan, at his hideout in Maguindanao, only to be ambushed by Moro rebels and other gunmen as they were extricating from the area after completing their mission.
“If the President was not involved here, why did you ask his approval?” Enrile asked Purisima, noting that he even included the date of the mission for Aquino’s “consideration and approval.”
Purisima, in response, claimed he merely “forwarded that [SAF’s Oplan Exodus] for his information,” referring to Aquino. Pro-administration senators also asserted there was no point for Aquino, who flew to Zamboanga as the fighting was ongoing, to be alarmed at that time because of the information being fed to him by his men in touch with the SAF commandos on the ground in Mamasapano. But Enrile, who moved to reopen the Mamasapano Massacre inquiry of the Committee on Public Order chaired by Sen. Grace Poe, confronted Purisima on testimonies indicating that the President “compartmented” information on SAF operation, in effect limiting certain details to certain people.
Even as the President had earlier assumed “ultimate responsibility” for the fatal mission, Purisima insisted that his and Aquino’s role in the fatal execution of Oplan Exodus was “limited to advisory” capacity. Purisima even recalled that when he went to brief the President at his residence in Bahay Pangarap about the mission, Aquino “was telling me about a new music system that he has [just acquired].”
Under questioning by Sen. Juan E. Angara, former Armed Forces chief of staff Gregorio Pio Catapang also sought to clear Aquino, saying the President did not prevent the Armed Forces from rescuing the SAF troopers ambushed by Moro rebels and gunmen.
Asked by Angara if Aquino gave an order for the military to stand down because of ongoing peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Catapang replied: “I did not receive an order to stand down.”
Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin and then-Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, who were present at the hearing, also testified they were not aware of any stand-down order from the Commander in Chief.
Senate President Franklin Drilon, likewise, came to Aquino’s defense, saying that it was SAF commander Getulio Napeñas, not Aquino, who should be held liable for compartmentalizing information about the SAF mission. Drilon also sought to elicit confirmation from Purisima that it was Napeñas who compartmented information, in a bid to pin the blame on Napeñas to spare Aquino.
For his part, Enrile said he got the “sense of frustration” of Aquino, as Oplan Exodus began to unravel early morning of January 25, 2015, as the SAF commandos exfiltrating from the area after completing their mission were pinned down by MILF, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and other gunmen in Barangay Tucanalipao, Mamasapano.
Asked by Enrile why he did not send air assets to support the SAF commandos encircled by Moro rebels, Catapang said he ordered immediate assistance to the SAF commandos, even if they were unaware of actual situation on the ground.
“We did not really know the situation; it took some time for our men to react to the situation”, he said, recalling that “two to three helicopters were prepositioned in Cotabato” as the firefight was going on. “Unfortunately, it was not requested by the National Police.”
Catapang added: “We follow the chain of command; we do not micromanage, our commanders know what to do.” But Enrile maintained that “the command system was paralyzed” on that fateful day, resulting in the massacre of the 44 SAF commandos.
Delay in filing raps
NOTHING prevents the Department of Justice (DOJ) from submitting a report to the Senate to explain the apparent delay in filing charges in court against those responsible for the death of the 44 SAF commandos in Mamasapano, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. said.
“The DOJ owes it to the family of the victims, and to the public, in general, to explain why a year after that tragic incident no formal charges have been filed in court against those responsible,” Marcos said.
“Even if they are not formally invited to testify in the Senate hearing they can simply submit to us a report on the status of the case so we can all know why it’s taking them so long to file appropriate charges in court,” he added.
Newly-appointed Acting Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas earlier denied that the department is sitting on the case and promised that a resolution will be out soon. Reports said the DOJ has concluded the preliminary investigation on the case on January 14.
Marcos said former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) should do the same to help the Senate identify possible snags that continue to hamper the progress of the case.
De Lima was the sitting justice secretary at the time of the Mamasapano Massacre and the start of the investigation on the case.
She later announced that charges will be filed in court against 90 of the gunmen who slaughtered the police commandos.
It could be recalled that in a letter dated January 20, 2016, addressed to Sen. Grace Poe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs, Marcos requested the panel to invite de Lima and Director Virgilio Mendez of the NBI to testify at the reopening of the Senate investigation into the massacre.
However, Poe explained that since it was Minority Leader Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile who sought the reopening of the investigation, the panel accorded him the prerogative of identifying the resource persons for the hearing.
Marcos vowed that no matter what happens in the Senate hearing he will continue to press the effort to give justice to the families of the SAF 44. “Awarding medals posthumously to the SAF 44 may assuage the pain of their families but only justice will give them peace of mind and allow them to move on with their lives,” he added.
(With Recto Mercene)
Image credits: Alysa Salen