CBCP head challenges Aquino: Disclose role in Mamasapano operation

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines head Socrates Villegas. INQUIRER.net PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Sunday challenged President Aquino to disclose his role in the police operation in Mamasapano that led to the deaths of 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF).

The Senate and the House of Representatives are investigating the Mamasapano debacle, but Speaker Feliciano Belmonte will ask the House investigative committees to suspend the hearings to allow public anger over the killing of the 44 policemen to cool down.

In a strongly worded statement on the Mamasapano debacle, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said the policemen went after “high-value targets”—international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” and his Filipino deputy, Abdul Basit Usman—because they were ordered to do so.

“The President and his advisers must give a full satisfactory accounting of their actions in respect to this tragic loss,” said Villegas, noting that policemen, even the SAF, “do not order themselves.”

“Indeed, that is what corroborated statements now clearly establish: The decision was made at the highest levels to go after these ‘high-value targets,’” Villegas said.

“The only thing that was awaited was ‘the window of opportunity,’ a judgment that is made by people on the ground,” Villegas said.

Villegas also echoed the same questions that were thrown by various groups and individuals following the bloody operation: Why were the officer in charge of the Philippine National Police, Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas left out of the loop in the SAF mission.

He also asked why a suspended police officer, referring to the resigned PNP chief, Director General Alan Purisima, played more than merely an advisory role and gave orders.

“And if he was in fact issuing orders and commands, should it not be clear that his authority to do so, precisely because he was laboring under a legitimate order of suspension, emanated from higher levels?” Villegas said.

Also on Sunday, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said Belmonte would meet with Negros Occidental Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer, chair of the committee on public order and safety, and Basilan Rep. Jim Hataman-Salliman, chair of the committee on peace, reconciliation and unity committee, to reschedule their joint hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“I think it is better if we let the issue cool down first and not to investigate in this heated atmosphere,” Gonzales said in an interview on dzBB radio–With a report from Gil C. Cabacungan

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