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President Noynoy Aquino caused the Mamasapano debacle. He let suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima run the operation that left 44 SAFs dead and 16 wounded.
That the planning and execution was flawed, and reinforcements were slow are offshoots. So are Purisima’s misleading reports, and P-Noy’s conflicting statements. The issue is P-Noy abetted Purisima’s misdeed, as shown in testimonies, timelines, and texts.
The Ombudsman calls Purisima’s act “usurpation of authority.” He persisted as PNP boss despite a six-month suspension. Letting him usurp such authority makes P-Noy a liable conspirator. That’s from a law dean, a trial judge, and two litigators, who requested anonymity.
The conspiracy to usurp happened to flop. But it was wrong to begin with, even had there been no casualties, the legal sources noted.
The Revised Penal Code punishes usurpers (Art. 177) with “prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods.” Meaning, six months to two years behind bars, eligible for probation. Conspirators can be convicted (Art. 8) because “the act of one is the act of all.”
Answerable too are SAF Dir. Getulio Napeñas and PNP intelligence Chief Supt. Fernando Mendez. Ex-judge Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said so in a hearing where the two admitted to reporting only to the suspended Purisima. They could be accomplices to usurpation (Art. 18), the legal sources stated.
The fiasco also saw the death of 18 MILFs with whom P-Noy has a truce, and four civilians, two of them youngsters. Six hundred families fled homes and farms due to the daylong SAF battle against the MILF and its splinter but blood-tied BIFF. Government peace talks with the MILF are on the verge of collapse. Congress has shelved the BBL that would enlarge and elevate the Muslim autonomous region to a sub-state.
Most damning of testimonies was Purisima’s himself. He admitted to briefing P-Noy on the impending SAF strike on terrorists Marwan and Usman in Mamasapano. The last Malacañang briefing, with Napeñas and Mendez, was Jan. 9. Purpose: final clearance of the SAF raid by Commander-in-Chief P-Noy.
Purisima was then one month into his six-month suspension while under Ombudsman probe for graft. The suspension began Dec. 4 and is to end in June. In joining the briefing, P-Noy conspired with Purisima to usurp the powers of the PNP chief, the sources said.
In his first public statement three nights after the blunder, P-Noy said Purisima oversaw O-Plan Exodus only till he was suspended. Yet in Congress inquiries, Napeñas and Mendez swore that Purisima brought them to the Jan. 9 briefing.
Napeñas expounded that he and Mendez stepped out afterwards, leaving Purisima with P-Noy. Exiting soon after, Purisima “advised” Napeñas to not tell his direct superiors, PNP acting chief Leonardo Espina and Interior Sec. Mar Roxas, about the raid till it was over. Purisima was to inform Armed Forces Gen. Gregorio Catapang.
Napeñas’ late informing of his lawful superiors, and Purisima’s of the AFP took Espina, Roxas, Catapang, and Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin by surprise on Jan. 25. The four couldn’t get fast enough the nearest Army infantry and tanks to extricate the SAFs who by dawn had been encircled by the MILF and BIFF.
Purisima and Napeñas bungled the SAF infiltration-exfiltration. Their non-coordination with the MILF, as required by the truce, worsened it. Those resulted from the conspiratorial usurpation, the sources said. With no operational experience in Mindanao, Purisima’s PNP headship drew largely from closeness to P-Noy as personal bodyguard during the Presidency of Cory Aquino.
On Jan. 19 Purisima texted Napeñas for updates, which he then relayed to P-Noy. It was again proof of usurpation, the sources said, with P-Noy “a principal by indispensable consent, if not inducement or active participation” (Art. 17).
After killing Marwan, the SAFs did not expect to have to fight their way out of the MILF-BIFF pincers. Fierce fighting ensued — “pintakasi,” or cockfight free-for-all, as both the Army and Moro rebels call it.
On that fateful morning Purisima exchanged texts with P-Noy from 5:45 to 8 a.m. about the unfolding events. The first texts were about Marwan’s killing and Usman’s escape. The next few were about firefights with Marwan’s BIFF coddlers. The last was a false assurance by Purisima that Army mechanized and artillery units already were aiding the embattled SAFs. The exchanges showed that P-Noy relied on the suspended PNP chief for operational control, the sources said.
P-Noy cannot invoke the Commander-in-Chief’s option to consult anyone he wishes, the sources said, for it refers only to the lawful. P-Noy can be liable for breaking his constitutional oath to “execute [all] laws” (Art. VII, Sec. 5), they added.
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