Failure of command and control.
That is the lesson one can glean from botched mission on Jan. 25 to arrest what one two-star police general, Getulio Napeñas, claims is or was the No. 1 terrorist bomber in the world—Zulfiki bin Hir, alias Marwan.
At least 44 commandos of the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force (SAF) died in the 36-hour top-secret operation in the town of Mamasapano, province of Maguindanao in Central Mindanao three Sundays ago. The separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which overwhelmed the SAF troops admits to only 18 dead. Napeñas insists, however, his boys killed at least 250 enemy fighters of the MILF and its terrorist arm, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
The SAF managed to capture Marwan and sensing heavy enemy presence, cut off instead one of his index fingers when he resisted arrest, and left behind his body, but not after photographing what looked like his body. “The SAF got their man,” declared Secretary of Interior and Local Government Mar Roxas told the Feb. 9 hearing of the joint Senate Committees on Public Order and Peace. Roxas’ Cabinet department has supervision over the PNP and its SAF which is headed by Napeñas as director.
While Roxas seems proud of his boys, he was not, however, informed by Napeñas, nor by his friend and boss, President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III about the Jan. 25 operation.
BS Aquino assigned the Project Marwan, codenamed Oplan Exodus, to his long-time bodyguard and shooting buddy, Gen. Alan LM Purisima, the suspended (since Dec. 4, 2014 for graft charges) PNP chief and director general. It was to BS Aquino and Purisima that Napeñas was reporting directly in nearly a year of planning to get Marwan. The PNP OIC, Gen. Leonardo Espina, was also out of the loop or chain of command.
Type Marwan in the Wanted by FBI search center and you get Zulkifli Abdhir, 49, as a Malaysian fugitive and among “Most Wanted” terrorists with $1 million to $5 million reward for information leading directly to his arrest or capture.
Says the FBI: “Zulkifli Abdhir is thought to be the head of the Kumpulun Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) terrorist organization and a member of Jemaah Islamiyah’s (JI) central command. It is alleged that he is a supplier to terrorist organizations and also conducts bomb-making training for terrorist organizations, specifically the Abu Sayyaf Group. Abdhir was indicted on August 1, 2007, in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, and charged with providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, contributing goods and services to a specially designated global terrorist, and making false statements.”
Marwan was otherwise known as the Bali bomber of 2002 wherein 202 died. In the Philippines, he was wanted for multiple murders—46 victims in ten bombings or terrorist activities. Napeñas claims Marwan might have trained up to 300 bombers, including the most notorious of them all, Abdul Basit Usman, a Filipino and also the target of the Jan. 25 search and destroy mission. He got away.
The U.S. Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms defines command and control as: “The exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission. Also called C2.”
President Aquino and Purisima gave authority and direction to Napeñas to execute his mission. The project was last discussed with the President and Purisima in a Jan. 9 meeting at the presidential residence at Bahay Pangarap, across the river from Malacañang, the presidential palace. After that meeting, Purisima “ordered” or “advised” Napeñas not to inform Mar Roxas and Espina about the project. Napeñas also deemed it right not to inform nor coordinate with the Army commanders with jurisdiction over Mamasapano, Maguindanao, and Central Mindanao, specifically, Major Gen. Edmundo R. Pangilinan, commander of the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division. In local military parlance, a division should have at least 4,500 men.
Since 2003, Marwan had been hiding in Maguindanao—a clear case of coddling by the MILF which entered into a peace agreement with the Manila government only last March 2014. Harboring terrorists or wanted criminals is a violation of the agreement.
Purisima should not have had command and control over Napeñas. The PNP chief was under suspension and was in no position to bark orders nor assign troops to a mission. Yet, Purisima held meetings, at least twice, in the so-called White House inside Camp Crame, the PNP headquarters in suburban Quezon City. White House is the official residence of the PNP chief. At the time of the meetings, Purisima was not supposed to stay at the White House because effectively, he, being suspended, held no formal position as PNP chief. Also, he kept himself posted via cellphone texting about the Marwan Project with Napeñas before the Jan. 23-25 window to target Marwan and on D-Day itself.
Two SAF teams were directly assigned to get Marwan on the early morning of Jan. 25—the seaborne SAF company 84 with 38 men and SAF 55 with 36 men. SAF 84 was to approach the hut of Marwan. SAF 55 was supposed to provide cover to SAF 84 when it retreats after bagging Marwan. SAF 84 got and killed Marwan at 4:15 a.m. of Jan. 25. There was shooting, however, following a commotion resulting from Marwan’s forcible capture. Eight of the SAF 84’s 38 men died instantly. A ninth, wounded, died later.
Hundreds of battle-tested reinforcements, at least 630, from the MILF and BIFF ranks overwhelmed not just SAF 84 but more so SAF 55. Of SAF’s 55’s 36 men, 35 died, in a nine-hour-long battle. Only one SAF 55 survived, wounded.
Past 7 am., Napeñas, who was overseeing the operation in nearby Sharif Aguak town next door or 11 kms southwest of Mamasapano, asked the Army for help. Help came very late and perfunctorily, late in the afternoon of Jan. 25.
Bottomline from the Senate hearings: President Aquino will go scot-free, politically battered yes, but he will keep his presidency for the next 17 months. Napeñas will be charged with the penalty of dismissal from the service and possible forfeiture of benefits. The Army’s Pangilinan will probably be reprimanded. Purisima will be tried before the anti-graft court not for murder, but graft.
Life will go on, until the next Mamasapano.
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