BOI to submit Mamasapano probe results on Monday

CAMP FLORENDO, La Union, Philippines – The Philippine National Police’s Board of Inquiry (BOI), formed to investigate the death of 44 police commandos in an encounter with Muslim rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Jan. 25, will conclude its probe today and submit its findings to Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II on Monday.

PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina said the BOI has thoroughly checked on the operational audit of the police Special Action Force (SAF) Oplan Exodus that was launched to get Malaysian bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, in his hideout in Mamasapano.

The raiding team killed Marwan while his Filipino cohort Basit Usman escaped. The SAF commandos later encountered members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that resulted in the death of the policemen, 18 rebels and several civilians.

“The BOI’s importance is on the operational audit which is to check what happened every minute of the operation until it was finished,” said Espina, who was guest speaker at the turnover ceremonies of 52 patrol motorcycles to the Police Regional Office 1 (PRO1) here.

He said the BOI would reveal those responsible for the operation and those who committed mistakes, liabilities and culpabilities.

“We have to find out what really happened during the operation,” he added.

Espina has called on the entire police force to move on amidst the controversies brought about by the death of the 44 SAF troopers.

“Let’s move on. We’ve done a lot of inquiry (on the incident). It’s my responsibility to carry on my people. Let’s move on towards what we have to do,” Espina told the members of PRO1 headed by Chief Superintendent Roman Felix.

Secretary Roxas said the BOI should answer at least five questions in its report.

He said the BOI headed by Director Benjamin Magalong, chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), should find out if Oplan Exodus was properly planned and properly implemented; were the equipment of the SAF troopers efficient; did SAF officials ignore instructions of President Aquino and what happened to the President’s instructions to relieved PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima and relieved SAF chief Director Getulio Napeñas during their meeting in Malacañang.

Roxas reiterated his commitment to find the truth and the immediate completion of the investigation on the Mamasapano incident.

Malacañang believes President Aquino’s no-holds-barred meeting with the SAF troopers will be productive, being part of a regular management process to ensure that operations will be carried out better in the future.

At the same time, the needs and concerns of SAF members would be addressed.

“It is a sound management practice to conduct an operations review,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a press briefing yesterday, a day after Aquino had a bull session with the PNP and SAF officials and staff on the Jan. 25 Mamasapano operation and other concerns.

Coloma said the President mentioned the need for an operations review with the PNP and SAF when he met with the leaders and members of the House of Representatives about two weeks ago.

Coloma confirmed the discussions at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City were “freewheeling” and that there was an exchange of “observations and suggestions.”

But he denied the President scolded the police commandos as he was not the type to give in to “any type of emotional outburst.”

Coloma also explained the President did away with a speech because he went to Camp Bagong Diwa primarily to conduct the operations review and witness the assumption of command ceremony for the new SAF commander, Chief Supt. Moro Virgilio Lazo.

Meanwhile, Espina went to Central Luzon and met local police officials and their men after visiting police units in Ilocos.

Espina is also scheduled to visit the Visayas and Mindanao in the next days to confer with local police units. – With Aurea Calica, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Non Alquitran