Purisima resignation triggers rifts over cover-up

President Aquino’s acceptance of the resignation of Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima has sparked widespread public suspicion over whether his relief was part of a cover-up to deflect public outrage over the massacre of 44 police commandos by Moro guerrillas on Jan. 25 to scapegoats away from the President as Commander in Chief of the country’s Armed Forces.

The Aquino administration has come under a storm of heavy criticism for its failure to protect a contingent of police Special Action Force (SAF) from a treacherous attack by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and its cohorts in the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in the firefight in Mamasapono, Maguindanao province, in which 18 MILF guerrillas were also killed.

The SAF commandos were attacked as they entered an MILF enclave to arrest two terrorists—Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” and his Filipino aide Basit Usman—given sanctuary by the MILF in “territory” ceded to them by a peace agreement between the government and the MILF.

Scorched by the backlash of public anger over the heavy casualties suffered by the commandos, Mr. Aquino on Friday spoke on national television to announce that he had accepted the resignation of Purisima to calm smoldering unrest in the PNP and the military over resentment that the President had sold them down the river in his effort to push the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro seeking the establishment of a Moro substate within the Philippine Republic’s national territory.

After resigning as PNP chief, Purisima denied that he gave orders during the police operation in Mamasapano, and that he had been pressured by the President to resign. He merely said he turned in his resignation so that the President “may have more room to act” (on what matters, he did not reveal).

In an interview on GMA 7, Purisima said he was on preventive suspension during the Maguindanao operations and while he gave the “intelligence packet,” he did not give any orders to the troops. “That is the role of the ground commander,” he said.

Kept in the dark

Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, the PNP officer in charge, has claimed he was kept in the dark on the SAF operation and that he learned about it only after the shots had been fired in the morning of Jan. 25.

Asked if he had directed Director Getulio Napeñas, the SAF chief, not to inform Espina about the operation until after the troops were already on the ground, Purisima said, “These are situations that are part of their plan until they reach the target. The others will be informed until they reach the target.”

It was the SAF that planned the operation, Purisima said. He added that he did not give any order to keep Espina in the dark.

Questions were asked in Congress: If Purisima didn’t call the shots, why is he being held responsible for the failure of the operation? While seeking to calm public anger, Mr. Aquino stoked the flames by saying in his speech on Friday that Purisima contributed to the planning of the mission to capture Marwan and Usman. Muddling things further, Mr. Aquino did not say it was he who gave the order for the operation to go ahead.

Instead, the President set the tone of finger-pointing and buck-passing by blaming Napeñas for the debacle, saying that the sacked SAF commander should have known whether the plan was being executed correctly. Mr. Aquino echoed Purisima’s blame-passing.

Purisima said Napeñas, who is now bearing the brunt as the scapegoat, was on top of the operation, and denied he had told Napeñas not to notify his superiors and the military about the operation.

On Jan. 28, Napeñas told Interior Secretary Mar Roxas that the President had knowledge of the police operation in Mamasapano. According to an Inquirer report, citing an undisclosed source, Napeñas admitted in a closed-door meeting with senior police officials in Cotabato City that suspended PNP chief Purisima “directed” the operation that involved 392 SAF troopers.

President briefed

Napeñas also was reported to have said in the meeting that the SAF coordinated with a senior police superintendent in carrying out the operation. “With whom did you coordinate?” Roxas asked Napeñas. “With General Purisima, sir,” Napeñas replied.

Napeñas also admitted that he was aware that Purisima was already “on” when the operation was launched.

Purisima was the first senior police official to become a casualty in the aftermath of the massacre. He was suspended last December for six months by an antigraft court in a case not related to the anti-terror operation. Despite this, he was actively involved in the planning of the operation.

In the gang-up on Napeñas, the President in his TV appearance said the antiterror raid in the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 25 should have been aborted because of “fatal defects.” He said the SAF commander who oversaw the attack in Mamasapano failed to coordinate the assault to ensure the safety of the policemen, including possibly arranging for military support.

P-Noy briefing

In the Cotabato meeting of senior police officials, Napeñas also told Roxas, “We have briefed the President.”

Visibly struggling to be calm during the meeting, Roxas bluntly asked Napeñas why he was not informed about the police operation.

“I am the secretary of the interior and local government, (but) I was not aware of this operation (that) involved 400 policemen,” Roxas said. “Is the guidance to keep this from the AFP? Is the guidance to keep this from the hierarchy of the PNP?”

Napeñas said he had recommended to the President to inform those in the area about the police operation.