OBSERVERS were either relieved or disappointed last week at the reopening of the Senate investigation of the Mamasapano massacre in which 44 police commandos were killed in a covert operation to neutralize two high-profile terrorists on Jan. 25, 2015.
Administration officials and their allies must have been relieved when Senator Juan Ponce Enrile produced no new evidence as he had promised to show that President Benigno Aquino III took a direct and active role in the operation.
Those on the other side of the political fence were disappointed by the same lack of new evidence. Where, they must have wondered, was the political bombshell they had been promised?
Both sides seemed to miss the point.
The 91-year-old senator, who had been detained on an as yet unproved plunder charge when the Senate first opened its investigation last year, used previous testimony and a record of text messages already introduced into evidence to put into sharp focus the role of President Aquino in the disastrous operation, and clearly established his direct responsibility for the deaths of the 44 Special Action Force commandos.
First, the testimony of officials involved and the record of text messages established that the President, contrary to his claims, was not only briefed but took an active role in the planning and execution of Oplan Exodus. In fact, the operation had even been delayed because the President suggested that more troops be sent.
Second, there was no doubt that the President kept the operation secret even from his Cabinet secretaries and top police and military officials, and put his trust instead on his good friend, a police chief that had been suspended at the time. This was a clear violation of the chain of command, and would later have disastrous effects on the military’s ability and readiness to come to the aid of the beleaguered police commandos and to stop their slaughter.
Third Enrile’s line of questioning offered a disturbing portrait of a President who was more concerned about bringing back proof of the mission’s success than the safety of his own men. The record of text messages was damning.
As the SAF commandos were being slaughtered, he texted his suspended police chief, Alan Purisima, several times—the first time to ask why the body of the terrorist known as Marwan was left behind, and the whereabouts of bomber Abdul Basit Usman. His text messages, according to the official record, are as follows:
7:36 a.m. Why was it left behind? The other two targets?
7:59 a.m. If I remember correctly 160 SAF troopers were directly involved in this operation plus provisions for other PNP and AFP units to assist. The terrain is flat and clear as opposed to upland forested or jungle terrain. Why could they not contain and or overwhelm 15 to 20 members of opposing force. Are they still in contact with other targets? If not, and the opposing forces escaped, are we now back to square one?
8:41 a.m. Review your earlier and latest text. They differ as to which was engaged first.
10:16 a.m. Basit should not get away.
Nowhere in the exchange was there one word of concern for the police commandos who were trapped by Muslim rebels, and who were soon to give up their lives for their country.
Mr. Aquino’s apologists in the Senate insist the President was misinformed by his friend and the commander of the SAF, but Enrile’s rejoinder is damning. If this is the kind of President we have—who cannot even get the true picture of one police operation with millions of pesos in intelligence funds and the entire machinery of government at his beck and call—then he deserves to dumped along with the rest of the garbage.
Senator Enrile’s point last week was that no new evidence is required, because if we properly appreciate the existing testimony and records of the Mamasapano debacle, it becomes as clear as daylight that Mr. Aquino was guilty of high crimes against the Filipino people.