De Lima: President already took responsibility

MANILA, Philippines–Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Wednesday defended President Aquino again in light of the Senate’s release of its draft report on the Mamasapano incident, asserting that he may not be held criminally liable for having knowledge about the botched operation.

“I have not seen the report so I still don’t know the basis for such a conclusion [on the] purported liability of the President. Now, owning up to responsibility, the President has already done that in his speeches [on the incident], because he was aware of the operations,” she told reporters.

“But we have to be careful about hasty and reckless conclusions that just because he knew about the operations, he is now deemed to be really liable or deemed to be really accountable for each and every aspect of that operation.”

De Lima also warned against “hasty conclusions” as she reiterated her view that the principle of chain of command, and hence command responsibility, may not apply on the Philippine National Police, a civilian organization.

Basis of report

De Lima was curious about the basis of the report, and whether it toed the same line as the PNP board of inquiry’s interpretation of the President’s relationship with the police hierarchy.

“I want to know the basis of the Senate report. Is it also referring to the chain of command? Did it agree with the position of the BOI that there is a chain of command (leading to the President), something which I strongly dispute?,” she said.

Sticking to position

“Even if the Senate agrees that there’s a chain of command in the PNP,” she said, “I’m sticking to my position and I will not change that, because that’s my reading of the Constitution, of the law, especially of jurisprudence.”

De Lima had earlier said in interviews and in a position paper submitted to the Senate during its Mamasapano investigation that the concept of the chain of command was “a military construct” that may not apply on the PNP.