Dela Cruz said Aquino’s explanation during a Monday prayer gathering that he had at first failed to read then-suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Alan Purisima’s first Feb. 25 message, sent at 5:45 a.m., because his mobile phone was off “makes things worse” for the bereaved families of the 44 Special Action Force (SAF) police officers killed in the clash.
“They (the families) do not deserve this kind of [ambiguity]. This information striptease will just convince people that there’s a massive cover up in this operation because [the President] just comes out with all kinds of contorted [information],” he said.
In the same prayer gathering, Aquino said he was “fooled” by Napeñas by giving him wrong information about the operation.
This contradicted Aquino’s earlier explanation to lawmakers at a meeting in Malacañang that he had been lied to by Purisima when he received inaccurate information that help was on the way to the beleaguered SAF troopers trapped in a firefight with Moro rebels.
Purisima supposedly called the shots during the police operation dubbed “Oplan Exodus” despite being having been suspended by the Ombudsman at that time.
Dela Cruz also urged Aquino to take full responsibility for the incident as the police and military services’ commander in chief, and come clean on the extent of his role in the police operation.
“No more hemming and hawing, he should tell the truth for the sake of the SAF 44’s families,” he said. — DVM, GMA News
