MANILA, Philippines - Despite owning up to responsibility for Operation Plan Exodus, President Aquino has not taken a position on calls for him to apologize for the loss of lives in a mission that went tragically awry.
This was according to deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, who said yesterday that the President had read in full the Philippine National Police (PNP)’s Board of Inquiry (BOI) report on the Jan. 25 police operation targeting high-value terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
With Aquino’s unclear position on calls for him to apologize for the fiasco, former President Fidel Ramos said that an apology may actually “do 90 percent of the job” of appeasing an enraged public.
The operation left dozens dead, including 44 members of the elite PNP Special Action Force (SAF).
At the same time, Valte refuted a Senate committee report that declared the President “ultimately responsible” for the deadly police operation.
Recalling her discussions with Aquino in recent days, Valte said, “It has not really come up, whether he will apologize, or what his thoughts are on the issue.”
“We had discussions with him (Tuesday) but none touching on the call for him to issue an apology over it. None so far,” she stressed. “That is something that we have yet to discuss with him.”
She echoed Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.’s earlier pronouncement that Aquino had already assumed responsibility for the Mamasapano incident in his Feb. 6 televised speech.
Reliable sources said Aquino took offense at the BOI conclusion that he broke the chain of command in the PNP when he dealt with then suspended PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima whose poor coordination with the military was largely blamed for the carnage.
Palace insiders said Aquino was complaining about the failure of BOI head Director Benjamin Magalong to get his side on the issue.
“Remember that while the emotions have been very high, the President is not shielded from all of this. He knows very well what these emotions are. He is not alien to them and in fact, we tend to forget that he is also grieving for these people,” Valte pointed out.
But most of those involved in the Mamasapano operation had voiced their side on the issue through affidavits or statements submitted to the BOI.
Valte also confirmed the President’s meeting yesterday with Magalong, PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director Leonardo Espina and BOI member Director John Sosito, but stressed the President met with the officials “to thank them for their efforts and to give them the opportunity to clarify any matters.”
Valte also debunked criticism of Aquino’s handling of the Mamasapano tragedy.
“You have to look at how the President dealt with the incident and how he has comported himself not just in the days after the incident itself but in succeeding days and weeks that he has continually looked after the plight of the families that have been left behind,” she said.
‘Reckless and hasty’
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima also contested the Senate findings, calling them “hasty and reckless.” She admitted she has not yet read the report, presented to the media last Tuesday by Sen. Grace Poe.
“We should be careful in coming up with hasty and reckless conclusions – that just because the President was aware of the operations, he is now deemed to be really liable or accountable to each and every aspect of that operation,” she told reporters in an interview yesterday.
“Even if the Senate agrees that there is chain of command in the PNP, I’m sticking to my position because that is based on my reading of the Constitution and the jurisprudence,” she stressed.
She said the President is not the commander-in-chief of the PNP because under the 1987 Constitution, PNP is a civilian agency.
“Therefore, being civilian in character, to them, the President is the Chief Executive,” De Lima said.
“He can bypass us, his Cabinet secretaries. Since we are alter egos, he can go directly to any of our subordinates. And he does that sometimes if he wants to consult something,” she said.
De Lima stressed that while the President enjoys immunity from criminal suit while in office, she sees no criminal liability for Aquino in the Mamasapano incident.
“As of now, I do not see any criminal culpability on the part of the President,” she stressed.
De Lima pointed out that Aquino has anyway “already owned up responsibility (and accountability).”
She said the DOJ’s own investigation would seek to validate the Senate’s findings that the Jan. 25 incident could be considered a “massacre.”
Also killed in the Mamasapano operation were five civilians and 18 guerrillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Impeachment unlikely
Malacañang also said it sees no grounds for any impeachment complaint against President Aquino over the Mamasapano tragedy.
Coloma told the Kapihan sa Manila Bay moderated by The STAR associate editor Marichu Villanueva that the findings of three Senate committees on Mamasapano were “indicative” of liabilities and that it would be up to the prosecutorial arm of the government to pursue possible charges against those directly involved in the operation.
“In all of the President’s actions pertaining to the mission in Mamasapano on Jan. 25, he was always mindful that the Constitution and the laws of the land must be followed. Any proposal to impeach the President must have sufficient factual and legal basis,” Coloma said.
Ramos, meanwhile, advised Aquino to apologize “humbly and sincerely” if he wants public outrage to somehow ease.
“A previous president said ‘I am sorry’ well and that removed a lot of pressure on that person although eventually, other things came up to cause her temporary detention in a hospital for alleged crimes,” he said, referring to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Ramos, who celebrated his 87th birthday yesterday, said Aquino should definitely take responsibility for the disastrous operation in Mamasapano. “What’s so difficult about that?” Ramos said.
“A commander, whether the commander-in-chief or platoon commander, is responsible for what his unit does or what it fails to do,” he added. – Edu Punay, Alexis Romero