WHAT did President Aquino know and when did he know it?
A transcript of text messages between the Chief Executive and his suspended national police chief Alan Purisima showed that Mr. Aquino was told early on Jan. 25 of the covert police operation that was underway in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, to capture or kill the international terrorist known as Marwan.
The text exchange also shows that the President had been misinformed about details of the operation, and that he was told that reinforcements were on their way when they would, in reality, take many more hours to reach the beleaguered policemen—far too late to save the 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos from being massacred by Moro rebels.
The Palace quickly jumped on the revelation to absolve the President of blame for the disastrous results of the operation. His spokesman said President Aquino was led to believe that the Mamasapano operation was going as planned, contrary to what was happening on the ground.
”He was not informed that there were casualties early on,” the spokesman added.
The spokesman emphasized that the President had nothing to do with the tactical operations, since this was the responsibility of Getulio Napeñas, the SAF commander who was sacked shortly after the Mamasapano fiasco.
The Palace also claimed that the SAF commander disobeyed his order to coordinate with the officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces.
Far from exonerating Mr. Aquino, however, the latest revelations paint a disturbing picture of a President who was completely out of touch with reality and failed to control his own trusted officers, and who, faced with the devastating outcome of his own incompetence, chose to lie and hide the truth from the public until he had no choice.
Here is what we can discern from the transcript of the text messages between the President and Purisima.
1) He knew the operation had been launched as early as 5:45 a.m. on Jan. 25 because Purisima had sent him a text.
2) The President continued to rely on Purisima, even though he was already suspended by the Ombudsman on corruption charges.
3) Purisima, contrary to the original Palace script, ran the operation despite his suspension, with the approval of the President. This was corroborated, not only by the text exchange, but by testimony before the Senate that Purisima joined several briefings with the President before Jan. 25.
The President’s actions both before and after the Mamasapano debacle raise disturbing questions about his ability to lead.
Foolishly, Mr. Aquino chose to trust his long-time friend, Purisima, keeping him on the job even though he was already suspended.
After the debacle, he continued to shield Purisima from public criticism, even praising him for his service in a national address while accepting his resignation. The President’s own criticism was reserved exclusively for Napeñas, and the Palace peddled the lie that the SAF commander was acting on his own.
We now know this was a lie—it was Purisima, who had a direct line to the President—who gave the go-ahead for the Mamasapano operation.
The belated effort by the Palace to now pin the blame on Purisima reeks of a desperate attempt to survive the Mamasapano fallout.
After all, the President did not learn about these text exchanges only this week—he knew of them on Jan. 25, the day he and his trusted police chief sent 44 policemen to certain death in Mamasapano. To claim now that it was Purisima’s fault for lying to him is disingenuous, at best.
That the President trusted such a sensitive security operation to a police chief who was already suspended on corruption charges suggests a fatal flaw in Mr. Aquino’s leadership. It makes us wonder, too, if he trusted the wrong people to negotiate a peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who have admitted taking part in the massacre. After all, these were the same peace negotiators who rushed to defend the MILF and blamed the SAF commandos for failing to clear their moves with the rebels.
We do not expect our leaders to manage all the affairs of government, but we do demand that they choose the right people to do so. Clearly, over the course of his presidency, Mr. Aquino has failed to do this time and again with disastrous results. This time, the cost of his folly has been 44 lives, and it is the President who must be made to pay.