MANILA, Philippines - The morale of the Philippine National Police (PNP) hit rock bottom at the beginning of the year just past as 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos were massacred in Mamasapano, Maguindanao and police chief Alan Purisima was dismissed from the service.
However, 2015 was also the PNP’s shining moment when it oversaw the peaceful and orderly conduct of two major international events – the visit of Pope Francis in January and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit in November.
The 20th PNP chief was also named in 2015 – Director General Ricardo Marquez, who may have been an unfamiliar face but many police officials attest to his being a capable and competent officer.
The police organization could not deny that the dust of bad news from 2014 was carried over to 2015, particularly regarding the suspended Purisima.
The Office of the Ombudsman suspended Purisima on Dec. 5, 2014 on charges of corruption, though he professed innocence.
Following the law of succession, Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, then second in command as deputy chief for administration, took over as officer-in-charge. He tried to restore normalcy in the police force and uplift the morale of its 150,000 members.
Espina as OIC headed the PNP in securing the visit of Pope Francis from Jan. 15 to 19. He was assisted by Marquez as then director for operations, who oversaw the nitty-gritty of security preparations. About 28,000 policemen were deployed in the pope’s areas of engagement in Manila and Leyte.
Police forces were augmented by about 40,000 volunteers in making the papal visit orderly and peaceful, an achievement lauded by various sectors.
While the PNP leadership was savoring their success in securing the pope and the mammoth crowd of devotees, some policemen complained of not receiving food allowance during their five-day deployment.
The complaint was immediately acted upon by the PNP leadership with the relief of a female police superintendent serving as budget officer for the alleged discrepancy in the money allowance for policemen.
The euphoric mood after the success of the pope’s visit was overturned a week later, as news broke about the death of 44 SAF commandos at the hands of separatists during a police operation in Mamasapano on Jan. 25.
Despite being OIC, Espina was not part of the inner circle of government officials reporting directly to the President, but reported only to then Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II. Purisima is a close friend of President Aquino.
Roxas and Espina flew to Maguindanao the day after to get the facts straight from the ground. The two officials even held a press conference to give detailed information about the operation involving high value target Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan.
On the third day Roxas and Espina admitted when asked by The STAR that they were both left out of the loop about the SAF operation against suspected foreign-trained bombers associated with terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Like Roxas, Espina claimed the SAF also did not inform him about the operation to arrest Marwan and his Filipino comrade Basit Usman.
Roxas announced the relief of SAF chief Director Getulio Napeñas pending the report of the PNP Board of Inquiry formed to establish a clear picture of the incident, where 12 others were also wounded in action.
The BOI was headed by Director Benjamin Magalong, then chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
Who gave SAF the go signal?
During the investigation, Napeñas confessed he reported directly to then suspended chief Purisima. Both officials with then Intelligence Chief Superintendent Ferdinand Mendez met President Aquino in Malacañang days before the Mamasapano raid. Napeñas recalled Purisima giving him instructions not to inform Roxas and Espina about the operation.
After pieces of the Mamasapano puzzle fell into place, Magalong’s BOI finalized its report, pointing to Purisima, who had by then resigned, and Napeñas as being responsible for the operation that led to the deaths of the 44 SAF commandos.
The 126-page BOI detailed 22 conclusions, the first of which was that the President gave the go-signal and allowed the execution of Oplan Exodus after the concept of operations was presented to him by Napeñas.
It also reported that the President allowed the participation of Purisima in the planning and execution of Oplan Exodus despite his being suspended. The BOI said the President exercised his prerogative to deal directly with Napeñas instead of OIC Espina.
As families of the slain SAF 44 mourned, the government reported that they would receive a total of P66.37 million to help them continue their education and provide other needs of their families.
The President did not even show up at Villamor Air Base when the bodies of the commandos were brought back to Manila.
The Office of the Ombudsman subsequently ordered Purisima’s dismissal, as well that of then Central Luzon regional director Chief Superintendent Raul Petrasanta and nine other police officials for the allegedly anomalous P100-million courier service contract with Werfast Documentary Agency in 2011 for the delivery of gun licenses.
The PNP is also haunted by the controversy on the missing 1,004 pieces of AK-47 armalites, which reportedly ended up in the hands of the communist New People’s Army. The disappearance of the weapons was exposed by President Aquino himself.
Purisima and other officials named in the cases maintained their innocence.
The dismissal of Purisima and Petrasanta from the service forced President Aquino to look for another official who could lead the police force. In July, the President finally appointed Marquez as PNP chief in a permanent capacity.
Roxas vouched for Marquez as a hardworking police official who helped contain the threat of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus during Holy Week 2014.
The PNP chief personally supervised the preparation and implementation of the security plan for the APEC meeting in November.
Marquez ensured that the welfare of the hundreds of policemen deployed to secure APEC heads, delegates and the public was taken care of.
Unlike during the pope’s visit when policemen complained of hunger, the PNP hired about 100 catering services to serve food for police personnel during their five-day deployment. The PNP leadership even specified the menu to ensure that the troops would not be fed similar food over the five days.
Although the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) received criticism for closing the stretch of EDSA used by APEC delegates, the PNP maintained all the security measures were meant to ensure the success of the international event.
HPG tapped to handle traffic
As public perception of the PNP continued to improve, President Aquino ordered the HPG to handle the monstrous traffic jam along EDSA, which on occasion had turned into a virtual parking lot.
Initially, in late September, the President instructed the HPG to manage six chokepoints – Balintawak, Cubao, Ortigas, Shaw Blvd., Guadalupe and Pasay Rotonda.
The snappy HPG members received positive reactions from the public and some private groups and individuals gave donations of vitamins, raincoats and other items in recognition of and to aid their effort to help improve traffic along EDSA.
PNP also helps in disaster relief
The PNP is seeking additional budget for disaster response operations which are eating up a big chunk of its budget intended for law enforcement missions.
Marquez said policemen are on the frontline in disaster response operations, preemptive evacuations and information dissemination and in many cases taking the lead in the search, rescue and relief missions.
While other government agencies have funds for disaster preparation and response, Marquez said the PNP does not.
Cops dismissed
In June, nine policemen involved in the hulidap incident along EDSA were recommended dismissed from the police service for being absent without official leave.
On Sept. 1, 2014, a commuter captured a photo of an apparent hulidap incident in broad daylight and uploaded it on Twitter, which went viral. After a thorough investigation, the policemen were identified and the victims claimed losing more than P2 million to the suspects.
Marquez vowed that his administration would not tolerate erring cops.