Aquino: Napeñas to blame for Mamasapano

MANILA -- Former President Benigno Aquino III responded Thursday to tirades thrown against him by his successor, President Rodrigo Duterte, over the botched Mamasapano operation launched on January 25, 2015.

In a statement, Aquino maintained that his "only fault" was he had given his full trust and confidence to dismissed Special Action Force (SAF) commander Getulio Napeñas in conducting an operation against two high-value targets, terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Abdul Basit Usman.

"I promised to become silent for a year. But last Tuesday, President Duterte spoke [against me] so I believe it is right if I respond," Aquino said.

"If I made a mistake when I was the President that time, that is I never expected General Napeñas of lying to the President of the Philippines. I trusted a two-star police officer, whom I had promoted," he added.

Aquino's statement came two days after Duterte blamed him over the bungled SAF operation that killed the 44 elite police.

Aquino recounted anew that he had instructed Napeñas to coordinate with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) about the SAF operation.

He, however, said that what happened was coordination "time after target" instead of "days before" launching the operation.

"I ordered Napeñas that it is necessary to coordinate with the AFP so we could prepare the mechanized units, artillery, airplane, the people and other assets needed to avoid pintakasi. Mr. Napeñas said 'yes,'" Aquino said.

Aquino also debunked Duterte's claim that SAF is merely "geared and organized into the service to meet the challenges of urban terrorism." RAG/ SunStar Philippines