CHIZ: BOTCHED 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 month.

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 Napenas 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 Napenas for listening to Purisima despite the latter's suspension. "Maliwanag dapat sa kaisipan ni General Napenas 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, Napenas 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.

According to Escudero, the Senate should immediately come out with its committee report on the Mamasapano investigation, simultaneous with the reports from the Board of Inquiry and other agencies that conducted investigations into the deadly clash.

At the same time, Escudero urged the President to come out in public once investigative reports have been released to answer, address and explain these results to the people waiting for answers, especially the families left behind by the 44 elite commandos who were killed in the Mamasapano mission.

"Kung kinakailangan ng pangatlo, pang-apat pang pagkakataon na muling humarap sa publiko, nararapat siguro para mas maunawaan ng ating mga kababayan ang relasyon niya sa mga reports na ito at ang dapat nilang gawin moving forward and learning from past mistakes kaugnay ng Mamasapano massacre," Escudero explained.