Inappropriate charges vs Napeñas, Purisima

In my opinion the charges made by the Ombudsman against former director general Alan Purisima and former Special Action Force (SAF) chief Getulio Napeñas are inappropriate. In his testimony during the Senate hearing, Napeñas said there had been an outstanding warrant of arrest for Marwan since 2009. Meaning, the SAF could have served the arrest warrant before or after 2010.

The only difference was the tip received by Purisima from US intelligence on the whereabout of Marwan, which he shared with Napeñas. If the sharing of a vital information by a suspended officer with a SAF commander is illegal, it is for the prosecutors to prove.

The reason for the many casualties on the side of the SAF commandos during the Mamasapano encounter was due to poor planning and implementation, not the illegality of actions attributed to the sharing of information between Purisima and Napeñas.

—I.C. MANALILI, Calamba City