MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile on Wednesday claimed that President Benigno Aquino III was shielding himself from any responsibility and accountability for the Mamasapano incident.
Enrile said in his speech during the resumption of the Senate inquiry on the Mamasapano incident that he will show evidence that Aquino directly participated in the planning and preparation of Oplan Exodus.
"President Aquino deliberately hid or was hiding himself behind [former Police Director General Alan] Purisima," Enrile said.
The senator claimed that Aquino was aware when the encounter between the Special Action Force (SAF) troopers and Moro rebels were ongoing and that he disregarded the command system of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
"President Aquino did not make any effective decision or any order or do any effective action as president of the Republic of the Philippines to prevent the barbaric slaying and slaughter of the PNP-SAF troopers whom he knowingly and deliberately sent on a dangerous mission to capture Marwan and two other targets," Enrile said.
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Enrile clarified that he does not have a personal grudge against "powerful people" behind the reopening of the Senate probe into the Mamasapano incident.
"I'm doing this for the country so that never again shall a similar gruesome butchery will happen in this land. I'm doing this for the people so that they will know the national leaders who failed them because of ineptness and lack of leadership," the senator said.
Enrile asked for the reopening of the Mamasapano probe to ask questions on the government's actions during the encounter which led to the death of 44 SAF troopers last year. He was detained for plunder charges when the Senate conducted the inquiry early last year.
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