BOTCH MAMASAPANO MISSION NOT PNOY’S FAULT

BOTCH MAMASAPANO MISSION

NOT PNOY’S FAULT

Senator Chiz Escudero said President Benigno Aquino III has been forthright about the Mamasapano operation and could not be held liable for the bloody incident last January.

Citing a provision in the Constitution, Escudero told the weekly Kapihan sa Senado that the President did not violate any law and that calls for the Chief Executive’s resignation following the deadly clash between the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front  (MILF) and other armed groups in Maguindanao were unfounded.

“The President, under the Constitution, is immune from suit and can only be held liable, if at all, for what he did or did not do in the Mamasapano operation in an impeachment proceeding,” said Escudero, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Finance.

“Para sa akin, ang pagkakamaling nagawa lamang ng Pangulo ay kung bakit binigyan pa ng lugar at puwang si General (Alan) Purisima na gumanap sa anumang kapasidad o papel kaugnay sa operasyong ito. But then again, we have the benefit of hindsight,” Escudero explained.

He said Purisima played a key role in botching the operation and for feeding wrong information to the Commander-In-Chief.

“Ang laki talaga ng ginawa niyang bagay doon. Hindi lamang sa impormasyong ipinasa sa Pangulo, hindi lamang sa maling pagkakaunawa ng mensaheng mula kay Gen. Guerrero, pero pati na rin yung pagbibigay ng abiso na huwag pagsabihan si General Leonardo Espina at Secretary Roxas,” the senator added.

In one of the Senate hearings, SAF Commander Director Getulio Napeňas Jr. admitted that Gen. Purisima told him not to tell Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas and PNP OIC General Espina of the special mission to arrest two wanted international terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Escudero also scored Napeňas for listening to Purisima despite the latter’s suspension. “Maliwanag dapat sa kaisipan ni General Napeňas na suspendidong opisyal ito at hindi pwede magbigay ng kaukulang order.”

He said that if the former SAF commander was ambivalent and scared of Purisima, Napeňas should have been more scared of what his men were about to face in the field.

“Dapat mas natakot siya para sa kapakanan ng kanyang mga tauhang nalagay sa balag ng alanganin dahil sa kakulangan ng koordinasyon at dahil sa sinunod niya iyong simpleng payo lang naman pala ni Gen. Purisima sa kaniya,” Escudero said. /MP