Noy, Napeñas point to each other on Mamasapano

MANILA, Philippines - The police operation to capture two high-value terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao two years ago was poorly planned and was carried out by its commander Getulio Napeñas Jr. without coordinating with the military – in defiance of orders from then president Benigno Aquino III.

The former chief executive was refuting pronouncements from President Duterte on Tuesday that he let members of the Special Action Force (SAF) get massacred by Muslim rebels.

In a statement, Aquino said he had ordered officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) “to do everything they could to achieve their objective of saving the SAF (troopers),” who were on a mission to arrest Malaysian terrorist Julkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and Abdul Basit Usman.

But Napeñas argued Aquino was “always on top” of operations to capture or eliminate Marwan and that the former president never issued any order to coordinate the failed operation with the military.

In belying Duterte’s claim, Aquino said he was breaking a vow to remain silent for a year to give the new president the chance to learn the ropes of the job.

Aquino, after a meeting with his legal counsels on Wednesday, came out with a point-by-point rebuttal of Duterte’s tirades.

“The premise that I let them in and left them on their own to look after themselves was wrong. There were witnesses, during the time that I stressed that the PNP must coordinate with the AFP, and the coordination must be done days before the operation was implemented,” Aquino said.

He insisted he warned the then SAF director of the dangers of the operation called Oplan Exodus, contrary to Duterte’s claim that he fed the police commandos “to the lion’s den.”

“If I committed a sin as president during that time, it would be this: not once did it enter my mind that Napeñas could lie to the President of the Philippines,” Aquino maintained.

“I trusted a two-star police officer, whom I personally promoted. I believed that this PMA (Philippine Military Academy) graduate would abide by the values of the institution… ‘courage, integrity, loyalty’,” Aquino added.

If his instructions were followed, Aquino said the “tragedy” would not have happened.

The commandos were leaving Mamasapano after killing Marwan when they encountered guerrillas belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. The gunfight left about 60 people dead, including 44 SAF troopers.

The former president also took Duterte to task for implying he did not know what to do when he learned of the incident while in Zamboanga City.

“When we were in Zamboanga, I was told that it was getting late; it would already be difficult for the troops to link up; and the rescue operations would just be continued ‘tomorrow’,” he said.

“That was when I answered: ‘If you were the one (in such a situation), would that be okay with you? They had been fighting the whole day; they probably did not have bullets anymore. Use all the assets, continue and rescue them. The minimum (accomplishment) that you should report to me was that they had been resupplied (with whatever they needed)’,” Aquino said.

SAF fit for the mission

On Duterte’s expressing bewilderment over why the Philippine Army was not the one tapped to conduct the operation, Aquino stressed the elite SAF troopers were also trained in such operation anywhere in the country and not just in urban terrorism, based on SAF’s own mission statement.

Aquino explained the PNP led the operation because it was the one in possession of pertinent intelligence information. It also had the police power to enforce warrants of arrest against the two targets – Marwan and Usman.

The former president also reiterated that contrary to Duterte’s claim, the US did not have a hand in the operation except for intelligence information, equipment and hardware. Duterte said the US Central Intelligence Agency was behind the Mamasapano raid.

“Even before my time, the US had been helping in our operations. As for me, I was talking to Filipinos. Those reporting to me were Filipinos, and Filipinos carried out the mission. Even the assets that managed to get near Marwan (who was neutralized during the operation) were our government assets,” Aquino said.

He likewise said whoever received whatever rewards offered by the US for the deaths of the two terrorists were not for him to explain.

The PNP’s grant of Medal of Valor award to only two of the slain SAF members was also something he did not have to explain, Aquino also said.

Aquino further said there was no order for the military to stand down allegedly to save the peace talks with the MILF as supposedly suggested by then presidential adviser on the peace process Teresita Deles.

He said Deles did not have knowledge of the operation and that members of the MILF were the ones who informed the military about the encounter.

Aquino emphasized he was aware of the risks in running after the two terrorists, the targets of Oplan Exodus prepared by Napeñas.

Then suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima had said he knew of the plan, being the one who had the actionable intelligence information on the two terrorists.

Aquino said Napeñas had promised him they would use 160 Seaborne operatives against 3,000 potential armed enemies.

He recalled Napeñas answering “Yes, sir,” whenever he asked if the coordination was done for the mechanized units, artillery, air and other assets to back them up in the operation.

Aquino said he even told Napeñas that the coordination could not be done while they were already moving.