Mamasapano clash: President to tell all ‘at right time’

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, wearing a black arm band, mourns by the coffin of one of the police commandos killed last Sunday, during the Philippine’s biggest single-day combat loss in recent years, at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig city, south of Manila, Philippines on Friday, Jan. 30, 2015. AP FILE PHOTO

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. acknowledged there were “sectors that are furious or losing patience, their faith in the government shaken because of the events at Mamasapano.”

Coloma indicated that the President was willing to submit his account of the botched operation to the Philippine National Police’s board of inquiry. But Coloma did not say when the “right time” was for Mr. Aquino to tell all.

“But we are hopeful that once the whole truth is known, once the whole country knows and understands what really happened, there would be a healing process,” he said.

As Commander in Chief, Mr. Aquino has been increasingly under pressure to tell all on his exact role in the Jan. 25 operation in Maguindanao province that saw the killing of Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan.” But it also cost the lives of 44 members of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) at the hands of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other armed groups.

Nearly a month after the bloody fiasco, Mr. Aquino has yet to provide clear answers on who was supervising dismissed SAF chief, Director Getulio Napeñas, during the ill-fated operation. It was also not clear who was updating the President about the incident and what orders he gave when he learned that SAF troopers were being attacked by the MILF.

Resigned PNP chief Alan Purisima earlier admitted to senators that he told Napeñas not to inform his immediate superiors until the operation had begun. But he said he merely provided an “advice,” a claim that senators didn’t buy.

The President’s silence has triggered speculations that he was in fact monitoring the operation through Purisima, his close friend and former bodyguard, even if the PNP chief was suspended.

Both Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and PNP officer in charge, Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, admitted they had been kept out of the loop about the whole operation.

Coloma described as “encouraging” the MILF’s decision to return on Wednesday some of the firearms it seized from the fallen SAF commandos.

“This is an encouraging development and it’s a sign that the MILF is ready to provide a concrete manifestation of their being the government’s partner in the peace process,” he said.

Coloma said there was a “sense of urgency” on the part of the President to see such concrete manifestations.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday dismissed suggestions that Mr. Aquino speak now, saying it was better to await the outcome of the police inquiry.

“It will help if (the President) issues a statement for those who are open-minded. But at this point in time, there are a lot of skeptics and they’d rather get their information elsewhere,” Trillanes said in a phone interview. Whatever Mr. Aquino says on his role in the massacre will become “moot” once the PNP board of inquiry releases its findings. With a report from Leila B. Salaverria

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