‘Purisima can be fired over Mamasapano clash’

MANILA, Philippines - Suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Alan Purisima can be removed from the service if it is established that he was calling the shots in the operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that left 44 police commandos dead.

“It constitutes grave misconduct – a grave administrative offense that carries with it the penalty of dismissal from the service,” an official of the Office of the Ombudsman told The STAR over the weekend.

Purisima was ordered suspended by the ombudsman last December in connection with a bungled firearms contract.

The suspended PNP chief reportedly flew to Saipan on Friday amid reports of his alleged involvement in the Mamasapano fiasco. According to the ombudsman lawyer, the acts of Purisima were obviously “prejudicial to the best interest of the service” – particularly in light of revelations by several high-ranking PNP officials that the sanctioned PNP chief “directed the operation by remote control.”

No less than President Aquino confirmed before national television on Wednesday that Purisima indeed coordinated with him on the operation of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) commandos before his suspension in December.

Purisima has yet to issue a statement on the issue.

Lawmakers are pressing for the investigation of the Jan. 25 Mamasapano incident, including the possibility of calling on Purisima to appear before a congressional inquiry.

On Friday, Sen. Teofisto Guingona III proposed the creation of a Truth Commission to look into the circumstances surrounding the killing of the 44 SAF policemen.

The 44 slain policemen were part of the SAF team on a mission to capture one of the world’s most wanted terrorist hiding in a remote village in Mamasapano.

The SAF commandos figured in separate clashes with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), leaving 44 of them dead and several others wounded.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II ordered a board of inquiry to investigate the incident.

Guingona, for his part, wanted a truth commission formed. He proposed former Supreme Court chief justices Reynato Puno and Hilario Davide Sr., and former senator Wigberto Tañada to lead the investigation.

A committee under Sen. Grace Poe will also probe the incident, with its first hearing set on Wednesday.

Poe said the committee wants to look into how to exact justice for the slain SAF troopers and accountability for those who were behind the botched operation.

She said committee would also review the governing rules of operations of the police and military in armed engagements.

Poe said Purisima should come out and face the allegations.

“Isn’t it natural for a person to defend his name, come out and tell the people that he has nothing to do with the operations?” she asked.

Poe lashed out at the apparent callousness of Purisima, who was nowhere to be found at the height of the controversy.

She asked why Purisima flew to Saipan on Friday, as the nation was grieving over the death of his men.

“If you were appointed as the PNP chief, isn’t it just proper that you have concern for your troops? He may be on leave or suspended, but isn’t it just right that you extend your sympathies to your troops?” Poe asked in Filipino.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Malacañang should explain the role of Aquino in the botched police operations in Mamasapano.

He said the President’s claim in his nationwide address last Wednesday, that Purisima was involved in the planning of the operation but did not give a clear go signal, adds confusion to the issue.

Marcos said the circumstances as well as how much the President knows about the high-profile operations as commander-in-chief are critical so that justice will be given to the fallen SAF 44.

Malacañang said it would allow the investigation into the Mamasapano incident to take its course amid allegations that Purisima was in control.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the administration is one with the public in its quest to find out the truth behind the incident.

Coloma added President Aquino told those wounded during the operation to write down their “recollection and what they could remember” about what happened because their statements could help in completing the “after-action report” or assessment of the Mamasapano incident.– Non Alquitran, Christina Mendez, Helen Flores, Ariel Paolo Tejada