Usurpation of authority rap vs ex-President Aquino ‘legally inappropriate’ – Villanueva

The Office of the Ombudsman has filed a “legally inappropriate” charge against former President Benigno S. Aquino III for his role in the 2015 Mamasapano incident, Senator Joel Villanueva said on Thursday.

Villanueva, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) chief during the Aquino administration, believed that the former president, as the commander-in-chief, had the power to implement the police operation.

“I think it is legally inappropriate to file a usurpation of authority case against then President Benigno Aquino III for his role in the Mamasapano incident,” Villanueva said in a statement.

“As the Commander-in-Chief of the police and armed forces, he had the power and authority to call the police operation, even if ill-fated,” he added.

Villanueva explained that “usurpation of authority” is defined as the “performance of an act which by a person who knowingly and falsely represents himself to be a government official without being lawfully entitled to do so.”

“The former president had to act on a matter of urgent necessity. He deliberately did what should be expected of a leader, and he merely answered the call to act in the best interest of the country and our people,” Villanueva noted.

The senator, who ran under the Aquino-led “Daang Matuwid” coalition in the 2016 elections, expressed his support to the former chief executive.

“I am more than confident and positive that the former President will be able to answer these charges and defend his name and honor,” he said.

The Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday filed graft and usurpation of authority charges before the Sandiganbayan against Aquino over his involvement in the bungled operation of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) against terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, at Tuknalipao, Mamasapano last January 25, 2015.

The covert operation led to the death of 44 PNP-SAF commandos, who would later be remembered as SAF 44.

The Ombudsman, in its charge sheet, said Aquino “willfully, unlawfully” caused former PNP Chief Alan Purisima “to perform and/or exercise the function of the chief of the PNP over Oplan Exodus prior to and during its implementation […] despite having knowledge that Purisima was under preventive suspension” by the anti-graft body.  /kga