MANILA, Philippines?Sorry, Tita Cory.
Malacañang officials sheepishly apologized Monday to the family of former President Corazon Aquino for what one of them claimed was a mere military ?bureaucratic lapse? that caused the withdrawal of security escorts last month.
?We would like to apologize to the family for any inconvenience or any misunderstanding it has caused,? Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said in a radio interview.
?I find it absolutely regrettable? really regrettable,? acting Executive Secretary Gabriel Claudio told reporters at the end of the Mass in Aquino?s honor at the Palace Monday morning.
The two bodyguards, Mel and Cris, were supposedly being recalled when Aquino was critically ill in the hospital and not when the former President called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down in 2005, as earlier reported.
The move apparently hurt the Aquino family, so much so that the children rejected the state funeral offered by Malacañang.
?Now you want to honor my mom? When you had taken away what was due her as a former President?? Aquino?s youngest daughter Kris recalled telling a Palace emissary during a television interview on Sunday.
Bureaucratic lapse
Remonde ascribed the incident to a ?bureaucratic lapse? in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which provides security for incumbent presidents and former chief executives.
He said Ms Arroyo knew nothing about the decision to recall Aquino?s security escorts.
Asked by Malacañang for an explanation, the military hierarchy said the tour of duty of Aquino?s military bodyguards had apparently expired, Remonde claimed.
?That was the explanation of the AFP and [the matter] was somehow misunderstood by the family,? he said. ?We asked for understanding and appealed for them not to mention the issue anymore.?
Not the first time
This is not the first time that Aquino?s security detail had been pulled out.
In September 2006, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that then Tarlac Rep. Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III had complained that his mother?s five-man security detail in 1992 had dwindled to one soldier, ?and even this last, single soldier was taken away.?
The AFP had said it never intended to pull out Cory Aquino?s security detail. It was a misunderstanding, Maj. Gen. Jose Honrado had said, admitting there was some confusion in the implementation of an order to recall military security escorts of some VIPs for training and review.
Under the law, those entitled to a security detail are former Presidents, former first ladies, the incumbent Senate president and House Speaker, and the chairs of the Senate and House defense committees.
Healing, not divisive factor
Meanwhile, Remonde said the issue of the security escorts should not be used to ?politicize? the death of Aquino.
?Let [the death] be a healing factor instead of being divisive factor,? he said.
?We have done our part,? Remonde said, citing Ms Arroyo?s decision to cut short her visit of the United States and her declaration of a 10-day period of national mourning and Aquino?s funeral on Wednesday as a special nonworking holiday.
?These should demonstrate the sincerity of the administration in respecting the death of the former President.?
Malacañang has also ordered Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado to explain the pullout of the security aides of Aquino.
?It was a complete surprise and we would like to apologize to the Aquino family to whatever concern it has caused them. It was never intentional,? Remonde told the Inquirer in New York. ?We have asked the AFP chief of staff to explain this.?
To avoid any more ?bureaucratic lapse,? he said Malacañang has ordered both Ibrado and PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa to extend all assistance to the Aquino family during the wake and funeral ceremony.
Never pulled out
Meanwhile, Chief Supt. Lina Sarmiento, director of the PNP Police Security Protection Group (PSPG), said three police officers assigned to Aquino were never pulled out, contrary to what her youngest daughter said in a television interview.
Kris Aquino, however, mentioned only two security people?Mel and Cris.
?We never thought of pulling them out. We never had the intention to pull them out,? Sarmiento said by phone Monday.
When asked whether the officers left Makati Medical Center when Aquino expired before dawn on Saturday, Sarmiento said no.
?They were never pulled out,? she said. ?They are in the funeral procession in fact.?
Sarmiento explained that the men, along with 34 other PSPG officers, were reassigned from the PSPG?s Presidential Protection Unit (PPU) to the Protection and Escort Unit (PEU) in the last week of June.
But despite their transfer, the men stayed on in their detail with the former President.
Accounting purposes
Sarmiento said the last time the officers left their detail was on July 9 to report to the PSPG headquarters just to check in ?for [personnel] accounting purposes.?
?Maybe when they went to the office on July 9, that was misinterpreted? But I?ve already spoken with Sen. Noynoy (Benigno Aquino III),? she said.
Asked how long the officers would remain on Aquino?s security detail, she said, ?For as long as they (the family) would need them.?
?After the funeral, maybe we?ll talk to the family to discuss it. If they want to retain their security, there?s no problem,? Sarmiento said.
Lower level
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile Monday said he did not think Ms Arroyo had anything to do with the bid to pull out the security of Aquino.
Saying he did not know the circumstances behind the complaint of Kris regarding the Palace bid to pull out her mother?s security during the time she was ailing in the hospital, Enrile pointed out that this action was not done in the level of Ms Arroyo.
?That is done in the lower level, at least, in the level of the secretary of national defense,? he told reporters in the Senate.
He said concerned government agencies should explain why they wanted to pull out Aquino?s security then.
?You cannot just withdraw the security of a former President,? the Senate president said. With reports from Gil Cabacungan Jr. in New York and Christine Avendaño in Manila
