Trillanes asks Senate to release ‘crucial info’ from exec session on SAF 44

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV now wants the Senate to release to the public the “crucial information” that former Special Action Force (SAF) Chief Getulio Napeñas had allegedly disclosed in an executive session about the Mamasapano incident on January 25, 2015.

Trillanes said he would move that the transcript of the said executive session be released to the public.

“Ang sa akin dito, puno’t dulo dito si General Napeñas sya ang salarin dito, palpak ang plano nya, sinekreto pa nya tapos ng mabulilyaso sya, humingi sya ng saklolo pero since bulag yung army, hindi makapagresponde in an appropriate manner plus during the time na sumaklolo yung armed forces, may tinagong crucial information si General Napeñas…Kung bakit nya ginawa yun e, yun sa executive session lumabas yun,” he said in a phone patch interview with Senate reporters on Tuesday.

(As for my opinion, the start and end of it all is General Napeñas. He is the reason why the plan went wrong. He made it a secret then when things went beyond control, only then he asked for help but since the [Philippine] Army was blind (because it happened at night), they can’t respond in an appropriate manner. Plus during the time the armed forces was able to respond, General Napeñas was hiding a crucial information. Why he did that, the reason came out during the executive session.)

“So sa akin wala nang ibang sisihin dito kundi si General Napeñas kung bakit namatay ang mga tao nya kung hindi sa kanya,” he said.

(So for me there’s no one to blame but General Napeñas on why many died. It’s all because of him.)

Trillanes said he would no longer participate in the reopening of the Senate probe on the incident this January 25 but he would ask the three committees that conducted the hearing to release to the public the transcript of the executive session.

The three committees are public order being headed by Senator Grace Poe, peace, unification and reconciliation being headed by Senator Teofisto Guingona III, and finance being headed by Senator Loren Legarda.

“I will move na ilabas yung transcript ng executive session para buong linaw,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes also dismissed Napeñas’ claim that he new information to offer when the Senate resumes its investigation.

“Definitely dapat wala nang maniwala dyan kay Napeñas, loko yang tao na yan,” said the senator.

(Definitely no one should trust Napeñas, he is a fool.)

“Sabihin ko sa inyo, yan ang salarin kung bakit namatay yung SAF 44, pag nakita nyo kung gaano kapalpak, pati yung tinext nyang mga coordinates, palpak, hindi tama, aside from the fact na that’s not how to call for fire. Mali pa kasi ibang mapa ang ginagamit nila, google maps precisely because hindi sila nagko-coordinate with other ground troops.”

(I am telling you, he is the culprit why SAF 44 died. If you saw how he bungled [the mission], even the coordinates he texted were wrong, aside from the fact that that was not how to call for fire. It was wrong because they were using the wrong maps, google maps because they were not coordinating with other ground troops.)

“Bakit hindi sila nag coordinate? Gusto nilang solohin yun, gusto nilang umiskor na malaki. Gustong sumikat at the expense ng mga tao nya dun,” Trillanes added.

(Why were they not coordinating? They wanted to do it on their own, to score bigtime. They wanted to be popular at the expense of the people there.) TVJ