Aquino fooled? Poe says Purisima role is the problem

MANILA, Philippines – “Hindi ko kasi alam kung nabola, o mali lang talaga ang naging protocol sa sitwasyon.” (I do not know if he was fooled, or if the protocol used in the situation was just really wrong.)

This is Senator Grace Poe’s response to President Benigno Aquino III’s explanation that the Mamasapano clash became a debacle because the relieved Special Action Force (SAF) commander “fooled” him (binola niya ako), and disobeyed his order to coordinate with the military. (READ: FULL TEXT: ‘Binola ako’ ni Napeñas – Aquino)

A day after Aquino’s comments, the head of the Senate public order committee probing the clash said that the lack of coordination is rooted in a nagging question Aquino did not answer in his speech – why his close friend, Alan Purisima, became part of a sensitive mission even while suspended as police chief over corruption charges. 

“Siguro kasi yung kay Napeñas, ang coordination ay sa isang taong hindi natin masasabi na opisyal ang kapasidad sapagka’t suspendido nga. So napakahirap ang pagrelay ng impormasyon, lalong-lalo na kung ang tulay mo ay isang taong hindi nararapat na kasama sa ganoong uring operasyon,” Poe said on Tuesday, March 10.

(Maybe the part on Napeñas, the coordination was with a person who did not act in an official capacity because he [Purisima] was suspended. So it’s difficult to relay information, especially if your bridge is someone who is not supposed to be part of that kind of operation.)

Poe said that Aquino was silent on the participation of Purisima, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the deadly encounter between elite cops, and armed groups that killed at least 65 people in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

In his speech in a meeting with Christian leaders on Monday, Aquino blamed Napeñas for failing to abort the mission even if circumstances deviated from the plan, for tactical errors, and the lack of a “sense of urgency” in conveying to him the gravity of the firefight.

Poe agreed that the exchange of text messages between Aquino and Purisima showed that the “real situation” on the ground was not conveyed to the President. Senators allied with Aquino pointed to this as the reason why he did not immediately order the military to reinforce the SAF troopers.  

Yet Poe said that Aquino’s “I was fooled” statement reflects negatively on government institutions.

Aquino critic Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr was more pointed in his comments. Marcos said that being fooled was the President’s own doing.

“Nabola. Hindi natin maiwasan na ‘yun ang naging resulta sa paggamit niya ng alternative or informal na chain of command. Dahil kung ‘yung buong command structure ang ginamit niya, kahit na isa o dalawa nagkamali or nagsinungaling, hindi pa rin ganito ang mangyayari. Hindi pa rin magkakaroon ng ganitong massacre. Hindi magkakaroon ng 44 na patay,” Marcos said in a separate interview.

(He was fooled. We cannot avoid that result because he used an alternative or informal chain of command. Because if he only used the whole command structure, even if one or two erred or lied to him, this would still not have happened. There wouldn’t have been a massacre. There wouldn’t be 44 dead.)

Forty-four commandos died, along with 18 MILF members, and 3 civilians. The SAF troopers were on a mission to kill Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, and Filipino bomb-maker Abdul Basit Usman.

Marwan died but the ensuing encounter put the peace process with the MILF under doubt after 17 years of negotiations. The incident also caused a rift between police and military officers, who along with the interior and defense chiefs, were kept out of the loop.

‘Confusing the issue’

Poe said that despite insufficiencies in Aquino’s account of what happened, the report of her committee due next week, and the findings of the various agencies investigating the clash will fill in the gaps.

“Nakikita natin na nagkakatugma-tugma ang pagkakamali sa paglunsad ng kanilang operasyon,” she said. (We see that the mistakes in launching the operation are consistent.) 

To Marcos, Aquino is changing his story. The senator said that Aquino first told members of the House of Representatives and the SAF widows that Purisima lied to him. Now, Aquino is saying it was Napeñas who lied.

“So this change in assertions of the President is just confusing the issue instead of helping to clarify the issue,” Marcos said.

Marcos added that Aquino’s account does not match what he gathered from the Senate’s 5 public hearings and 5 executive sessions on the encounter.

“This has sown confusion into what we thought happened because based on testimonies, the documentation of text messages, we said we already knew what really happened.”

Asked if the cause of the error was Aquino’s wrong judgment or wrong choice of friends, Marcos quipped: “Wrong choice of procedure.”

‘Will BOI sing same tune?’

Aquino’s staunch ally Senate President Franklin Drilon said he understood the President’s speech. He urged Aquino’s critics to read the Senate committee report. 

“If we will wait for the report, it will be more comprehensive,” Drilon said.

Opposition senator JV Ejercito took issue with the timing of Aquino’s speech, delivered on the same day the police Board of Inquiry (BOI) announced it will postpone the submission of its report from Monday to Thursday.

Ejercito said Aquino’s speech preempted and may compromise the BOI findings. 

“I wonder how the BOI will write a conclusion since the commander in chief already said his side of the story yesterday,” Ejercito told Rappler.

“Will the head of BOI sing the same tune or sing a different one?” – Rappler.com