MANILA, Philippines – While President Benigno Aquino III was aware of the operations against two terrorists, which led to the death of 44 policemen, he said it did not require his direct approval.
“If they will have to wait for me with every action, then they will have to contend with all the other things that are occupying my attention, when will we catch the criminal?” he told Palace reporters on Wednesday.
“’Sir, can we proceed with the mission?’ I don’t think I was ever asked that question,” he explained. “‘Yung ‘pwede ho ba naming hulihin itong pinapahuli ng korte?’ Pwede ko bang sagutin na ‘hindi’? (The question, ‘can we arrest someone who the court says should be arrested?’ Can I answer that with a ‘no’?)”
The statement came amid confusion on who had directed the operation, which resulted in an alleged “misencounter” between the Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Earlier reports said the PNP command group and even Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, who is a close ally of the President, were not aware of the SAF’s mission to arrest Zulkifli bin Hir (also known as Marwan) and Abdul Basit Usman.
Roxas in the dark, Purisima in the know?
“We’ll look into that, kung bakit hindi alam ni (why they were not aware) Secretary Roxas or Deputy Director General Espina—that will be borne out in the Board of Inquiry,” Aquino said.
However, he said the two of them earlier discussed that particular operation or at least an initial version of the plan.
Aquino denied that the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), headed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., was involved but he admitted that suspended PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima was in the know.
“He was involved ‘yung up to the point in time, directly, that he was ordered suspended by the Ombudsman,” the President said, referring to Purisima’s preventive suspension over an anomalous contract. “Tapos after that, if at all, ‘yung siya ang very knowledgeable about the whole thing; ipinapaliwanag sa akin ‘yung intricacies of what the plan being presented to be was (And after that, since he is the one very knowledgeable about the whole thing; he was the one explaining the intricacies of the plan).”
Earlier reports said Aquino sanctioned the operation and asked Purisima, despite his suspension, to direct it.
While the President said he did not need to give the go signal, he explained that he has repeatedly reminded the SAF head to coordinate with the military and other concerned groups.