Noy to face trial for Mamasapano

MANILA, Philippines - Former president Benigno Aquino III will face trial before the Sandiganbayan for the death of more than 60 people, including 44 police commandos, in the January 2015 Mamasapano raid.

In a 35-page consolidated resolution released yesterday, the Office of the Ombudsman found probable cause to indict Aquino in court with usurpation of authority under Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code and violation of Section 3 (a) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Aquino was found liable for allowing director general Alan Purisima, who was suspended at the time as chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) due to a graft case, to play a “major role” in the raid.

Purisima and former PNP-Special Action Force (SAF) director Getulio Napeñas Jr. were ordered indicted together with Aquino.

The deaths of the so-called SAF 44 sparked public outrage and set back the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The trapped police commandos waited for reinforcement that never came.

Purisima and Napeñas are facing separate cases of graft and usurpation of authority before the Sandiganbayan also in connection with the Mamasapano operation.

The resolution, approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on July 1, resolved three separate complaints filed by the families of the slain SAF troopers in July and August last year, shortly after Aquino was stripped of immunity from suit following the end of his term.

The complainants, assisted by the Volunteer Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), originally charged Aquino, Purisima and Napeñas with reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide, but the ombudsman, in its resolution, said it found “no probable cause” to sustain the filing of such case in court, pointing out that the acts or negligence of the three former officials were not the “proximate cause” of the death of the SAF 44.

The ombudsman, however, found Aquino liable for usurpation of authority for allowing Purisima to play a “major role” in Oplan Exodus, the SAF operation aimed at neutralizing Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman.

Marwan had a $5-million prize on his head offered by the US government.

The ombudsman said Aquino still allowed Purisima to participate in the planning and execution of Oplan Exodus despite the latter’s then being under preventive suspension over an alleged anomalous courier service deal between the PNP and a private firm for the delivery of firearms licenses.

“There is no gainsaying that President Aquino was fully aware that the Office of the Ombudsman had placed Purisima under preventive suspension at that time,” the resolution read.

The ombudsman said the meetings between Aquino, Purisima and Napeñas at Malacañang in December 2014 as well as the exchange of text messages between Aquino and Purisima on Jan. 8 and 13 and on the actual day of the implementation of Oplan Exodus on Jan. 25, 2015, all point to the fact that the latter took the lead in the SAF operation.

“The foregoing record of SMS exchanges does not jibe with President Aquino’s asseveration that he merely utilized Purisima as a ‘resource person providing vital information’ for Oplan Exodus,” the Ombudsman said.

“(Purisima) indeed played an active role in Oplan Exodus as shown by all the SMS exchanges and findings of the Senate Committee Report on Mamasapano incident, to the point that he was exercising a degree of authority and discretion over Napeñas, and consequently, over the operation,” it added.

The ombudsman said Purisima could not have acted in such manner “were it not for the complicity and influence of President Aquino.”

Furthermore, the ombudsman said Aquino should be held liable for violation of Section 3 (a) of RA 3019, which makes it unlawful for public official “to persuade, induce or influence another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority”.

It was revealed during a Senate investigation that Purisima and Napeñas violated the PNP chain of command by keeping the then acting PNP chief Leonardo Espina and then Interior Secretary Mar Roxas in the dark about Oplan Exodus.

While leaving Mamasapano after killing Marwan, the SAF troopers ran into hundreds of fully armed MILF and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) guerrillas. The encounter left 44 SAF troopers, 18 MILF members and three civilians dead.