Poe says Senate closed-door disclosures may favor Aquino

Senator Grace Poe. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

MANILA, Philippines–Resigned Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima’s disclosures during the Senate executive session this week on the Jan. 25 Mamasapano debacle may even favor President Aquino, Sen. Grace Poe said on Wednesday.

The accounts of two surviving Special Action Force (SAF) commandos given in the closed-door meeting, while awe-inspiring, may not be disclosed for security reasons, said the chair of the public order committee conducting the inquiry into the Mamasapano raid that led to the massacre of 44 SAF troopers.

Senators, however, have agreed to release summaries of the testimonies of Purisima, the two survivors and relieved SAF commander Director Getulio Napeñas, she said.

“There’s nothing objectionable that should not be disclosed. If at all, it may even favor the President. But I won’t give details because that is an executive session,” Poe said of Purisima’s disclosures. She did not elaborate.

She declined to say if the session with Purisima tackled the matter of whether the President gave the order to inform Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., PNP Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas of the operation only when the SAF forces were on the ground.

Behind closed doors

“I can’t confirm the particulars of the executive session, but it can be asked again since it was asked in open session,” she told reporters after emerging from a caucus with her colleagues on which transcript to release.

The senators heard Purisima and Napeñas for hours in executive sessions last Tuesday and Monday, respectively.

Purisima had earlier indicated that he had to seek clearance from the President when asked about the specific time he informed Aquino of the debacle.

The 44 SAF commandos were killed when they clashed with Moro guerrillas after taking down Jemaah Islamiyah bomber Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province.

Eighteen rebels and five civilians were also killed in the clash.

The carnage has sparked outrage and calls for the resignation of the President, and set off rumors of a coup.

Inspiring narration

Of the accounts of the two survivors during last week’s executive session, Poe said: “Their narration of their experience was inspiring. You’d be amazed at how they survived. I wanted that to come out but we agreed that we should be careful about this because some wanted to take revenge.”

Besides, recounting how they were pinned down by the rebels would give away the SAF forces’ mistakes, she added.

Speaking of Napeñas, Poe observed that the former SAF commander had made many disclosures to the media.

“The senators have agreed that the transcript will not be released verbatim, even redacted, if ever we’ll come up with a summary at best. But we would rather cite the pertinent discussions during the executive session in our committee report,” she said.

The committees on public order, peace and finance will resume the joint hearings on Monday morning.

Originally posted as of 9:34 PM | Wednesday, February 18, 2015