Senator thinks Aquino not forthcoming on Mamapasano bloodbath was not completely forthcoming on his role in Mamasapano clash
Philippine National Police Special Action Force Chief Supt. Getulio Napenas, Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chairperson of the Government Peace Negotiating Panel for talks with the MILF, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Sec. Teresita Quintos Deles and Former Agriculture Secretary and member of the Peace panel Senen Bacani take their oath during the hearing on the Mamasapano incident where 44 members of the PNP SAF were killed.(MNS photo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) – Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago does not think President Benigno Aquino III has been completely forthcoming regarding his role in the January 25 Mamasapano operation that led to the deaths of 44 elite policemen.
At a press briefing Thursday after her appearance at the Senate hearing on the Mamasapano incident, Santiago went as far as saying that relieved Special Action Force (SAF) chief Director Getulio Napeñas Jr. was just a “scapegoat.”
Asked if she thinks Aquino was forthcoming about his role in the incident, Santiago said, “No, not completely.”
The SAF members were killed when the operation, designed to arrest two high-profile terrorists, resulted in an encounter with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has an existing peace agreement with the government.
On Aquino’s statement that the operation to arrest Malaysian Julkifli bin Hir and Filipino bomb-maker Basit Usman does not need his go-signal, Santiago said, “I don’t believe that for a minute, I’m sorry.”
“He had a direct hand from the very beginning according to his own admission. Yun lang ang version niya [ay] in the due course of the four years time that it took to catch these terrorists, he dropped out of the line of command because anyway people already understood what his position was. I don’t buy that,” she added.
Santiago said Napeñas had no choice but to take full responsibility for the operation. Otherwise, she said, the fault of resigned PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima, who is close to Aquino, will be put on spotlight.
“Ito naman si Napeñas [ay] walang choice. Kung pipiliin na si Purisima will take responsibility, aamiinin nila na he violated the terms of his preventive suspension, that’s why it had to be Napeñas,” she said.
Purisima was already under suspension by the Ombudsman over graft charges when the Mamasapano clash occurred, but he was still attending meetings and briefings regarding the operation.
Because of this, Santiago urged the President and other officials involved in the operation to tell the public the truth.
“It is important that you must know what happened, that government must not hide the truth from its own people. That is the politics of lying. Our government should not fall into the same temptation,” she said. (MNS)