Senator Grace Poe apparently went easy on Aquino when asked if she thinks the President did not do enough to save the SAF troopers from the bloody Mamasapano clash.
In an interview on Wednesday after the reopened probe on the tragic police operation, Poe said that since the President was preoccupied most of the time, it should be the responsibility of the Philippine National Police chief to feed him accurate information on what was happening on the ground.
“Siguro kinulang talaga ng tamang impormasyong ibinigay sa kaniya kaya importante talaga ang chain of command dito sapagkat abala ang isang pangulo sa maraming ibang bagay na dapat mismo ang PNP chief ang dapat nakatutok dito,” she said.
(Perhaps the information given to him weren’t accurate that’s why the chain of command is important here because the President is preoccupied with so many things. The PNP chief should be the one focused on this matter.)
But Poe maintained that Aquino is still “ultimately responsible” for the debacle.
She also supported the testimonies of the officials concerned in the tragedy that Aquino prevented the military from sending reinforcement and artillery support to the beleaguered SAF troopers.
“Nandun pa rin siyempre ang responsibilidad niya, pero subalit nakita naman natin sapagkat may iba’t ibang binabato sa kaniya katulad na maaaring sinabihan yung military na ‘wag tumulong, hindi naman totoo ‘yon,” she said.
The presidential aspirant is currently facing a slew of disqualification cases before the Commission on Elections and the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
Earlier, Poe accused members of the Liberal Party and the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay as the primary movers behind the attempts to kick her out of the race.TVJ