SENATORS on Tuesday hammered away at resigned police chief Alan Purisima for keeping Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and acting Philippine National Police chief Leonardo Espina in the dark about the Mamasapano operation that resulted in the death of 44 police commandos, and suggested that this showed his distrust for them.
At the resumption of hearings of the Senate public order committee, Purisima was asked once again why he told the chief of the Special Action Force (SAF) not to tell Roxas and Espina about the operation to capture or kill Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman.
Responding to the questions from Senators Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Aquilino Pimentel III and Alan Peter Cayetano and Senate President Franklin Drilon, Purisima admitted that Roxas and Espina were not informed about the covert operation for “operational security.”
“General Espina was out of the loop. Also, the secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government was kept out of the loop. Why did you feel the need to give that advice [to the SAF commander, Getulio Napenas]?” Marcos asked Purisima.
“I would like to know the reason you felt the need to cut General Espina from the chain of command.”
Purisima said he merely followed the principle of “time-on-target,” which means information about a mission would only be disclosed when the operation was underway or when the operating unit was already at the target site. He said the plan for the operation stated that it should be done on this basis.
“But this is the commander, this is the chief, acting chief of the PNP. This is not only usurpation of authority. This is also breaking the chain of command because it’s very clear, the chain of command is here, and you as a suspended chief of PNP were issuing orders to keep the acting PNP in the dark on a very critical mission . Why did you feel that was necessary?” Marcos asked.
Purisima, who was suspended on corruption charges in December, again said Tuesday he did not order Napenas to keep Roxas and Espina out of the loop—but just offer him advice.
“So you do not trust the Secretary of the DILG with this information? You do not trust your own second-in-command—Deputy Director Espina, the acting PNP, (chief) with this information?” Marcos pressed.
Purisima denied mistrusting Roxas and Espina.
Asked why he was at a briefing in Malacanang on Jan. 9 when Napeñas gave the President an update on the mission, Purisima said that the SAF chief had informed him of the meeting.
Napeñas testified that after the briefing, Purisima was left with the President.
Later, Purisima approached Napeñas and told him not to tell Roxas and Espina about the operation until the SAF commandos were already at the target.
Purisima also told him that he would “take care” of Armed Forces chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, Napeñas said.
Poe asked Purisima what this meant, to which the resigned police chief said he would be the one to pass the information about the operation to Catapang.
Marcos said: “The coordination with AFP was supposed to have been done by you? You only did that when the SAF members were under fire? Am I correct?”
“I texted and tried to call him [Catapang, to tell him] that the operation was already ongoing,” Purisima replied.
Turning to Napenas, Marcos asked him if it was within his power as SAF director “to green light” a mission or did he need to seek clearance from higher up.
To this, Napeñas replied that on two occasions, he joined Purisima for a mission update with President Benigno Aquino III. Because he was never specifically told to scrub the operation, he took this as an implicit or tacit approval to proceed.
He said the briefing in January at Bahay Pangarap in Malacañang lasted 15 to 20 minutes. An earlier briefing on Dec. 19 with the President at the firing range was brief, Napeñas said.
Marcos asked Napeñas if during any of the briefings, he was told to shelve the operation because the planning was not good.
“Nothing your Honor,” answered Napeñas, who said he took this to mean consent on the part of the his commanders.
Drilon then asked if there was a point when the President told him to proceed.
“There was no direct order from the President to proceed or directly telling me the mission was approved,” Napenas said.
“Essentially, there was no guidance one way or another from either General Purisima or the President, to defer, to delay or to continue and to implement the operation?” asked Marcos.
Napenas said no.
Drilon also asked Purisima why he advised Napeñas not to inform Roxas and Espina about the operation.
“Was it in the operational plan not to inform Roxas and Espina?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” said Purisima.
“What do you mean you don’t know? Come on,” a visibly irritated Drilon, who then gave up on questioning the resigned police chief.
Under questioning by Pimentel, Napeñas said it was Purisima who brought them to Malacañang.
“On Nov. 30, 2014 and Jan. 9, 2015 … if I may clarify, when we went to Malacañang on those two occasions, I did not request that we will be the one to provide mission updates but instead, when we provided mission updates to Police Director General Purisima, he was the one who brought us all the way to Malacañang to join him, not the other way around,” he said.
Returning to the witness stand for the second time, Roxas acknowledged there was no coordination.
“They’re right. There was no coordination, no prior coordination because it was time-on-target. But my question is: Sure, there was no coordination but they were asking for help. It was an SOS,” said an Roxas.
The Army fired white phosphorous in the area at 6:30 p.m., more than 12 hours after the first bullets were fired. By then, all but one of the SAF’s 55th company had been killed. Nine of the SAF’s 84th Seaborne Company also died.
Although the AFP was caught off-guard, Roxas said, they could have fired on the location of the battle.
“We’re being attacked. We’re being killed. We will take our chances that you fire on our positions because at least there’s a chance that we won’t be hit but the enemy will,” he said.
When Cayetano asked Catapang if the military had helicopters in the area that day, he said the SAF did not ask for them.
“Why, if I’m drowing do I need to specify what kind of help I need?” asked Cayetano. He also questioned him if the military “sacrificed” the 44 SAF for the peace process.
“Your men were there, dying and you were thinking, what the MILF will say? Cayetano asked.
But Catapang said: “When we’re fired upon we have to respond.”
Cayetano shot back: “Why did you not give that order from the start?”
Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the 6th Infantry Division that has jurisdiction of military forces in central Mindanao, said he made the right call when he put on hold a SAF request for artillery support.
When the request was made, he said the military did not have enough information, such as the location of the target.
Reacting to the revelations during the Senate hearings, former senator Panfilo Lacson said the President broke the chain of command when the talked to his suspended PNP chief about the Mamasapano operation.
Lacson, a former police chief, said the President should have consulted with Espina, the PNP OIC.
“If you are the commander-in-chief or the PNP chief, you should also respect the chain of command,” Lacson told a TV interview.
“When they had the meeting in Malacañang on Jan. 9 and only the suspended PNP chief was there and General Espina was not, there was already disrespect for the PNP command. Espina should have been there,” said Lacson.
But Poe defended the President, saying she saw nothing wrong with his consulting with Purisima.
