Villanueva disputes OMB raps vs Aquino

Senator Joel Villanueva believes that the charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against former President Benigno S. Aquino III was “legally inappropriate” for his role in the Mamasapano, Maguindanao incident in 2015.

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

Last Wednesday, the Ombudsman formally charged Aquino with usurpation of authority before the Sandiganbayan over his supposed instruction to carry out the operations that led to the death of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) police troopers in Mamasapano on Jan. 24, 2015.

Aquino was also charged with violating the RA 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Villanueva, in stressing his point, defined “usurpation of authority” as the “performance of an act by a person who knowingly and falsely represents himself to be a government official without being lawfully entitled to do so.”

He said he believes that Aquino, as the Commander-in-Chief of the police and armed forces at that time, “had the power and authority to call the police operation, even if ill-fated.”

“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,” he added.

A member of the Senate majority, Villanueva was Aquino’s ally and ran under his “Daang Matuwid” coalition in the 2016 elections. In a social media post, he used the hashtag #OneWithPNoy to express support to the former chief executive.