Support pours in for Noy: You are not alone.
of authority because everything he said are merged in one person, the chief executive, the president,” he added.
Duterte was referring to Aquino’s decision to ask then suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Alan Purisima to oversee the operations against terrorists in Mamasapano.
“(The president) can call anybody to help him fight a criminal operation there… He was just asking for the advice from a professional police. I do not see anything wrong there. Nothing was signed, nothing was agreed by Purisima except that he was helping the president implement the law,” Duterte said.
“Whoever he orders there, it’s none of your business because he has the trust… Purisima was not in the operation… All of those powers are vested in the president. They (charges) are there to ensure its failure,” he added.
Duterte also said all powers and offices “are merged into one person and that is the president.”
He believes Aquino will be acquitted of the charges.
Asked what charges should be filed against Aquino, Duterte said: “Wala ako... Wala. Talagang failure. Hindi naman lahat manalo eh (None. It’s really a failure. Not everyone wins).”
“It was an operation. It was a success in the sense that they were able to get the fingers of (terrorist) Marwan. And it was given directly to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), so they’re waiting there,” he added.
Duterte, however, believes Aquino had shortcomings in the Mamasapano operation.
“Talagang talo, malas (It was a defeat). But the shortcoming is the burden of Aquino,” he said.
“There was no assistance, reinforcements, the military air assets, the cannons there, it could have reached… But then you cannot do it, because you will also kill the people, the women and children there.”
When pressed on what he thought motivated Ombudsman Conchita CarpioMorales to recommend the charges against Aquino, Duterte said: “Wala. Sabi ko, bugok ‘yung nagdesisyon (None. The one who made the decision was wrong). There are maybe other damages but not criminal.”
Senators cool to new probe
Meanwhile, senators were cool to the proposal of Sen. Richard Gordon to reopen the Mamasapano clash probe since the matter was exhaustively taken up by the Senate in the previous administration.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said that he wants to find out from Gordon “what angle of the incident he wants to probe this time,” considering that the inquiry was previously reopened upon the insistence of former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile.
“Hence, this will be the third investigation. Let me talk to him first,” Pimentel said.
Sen. Grace Poe, then chair of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs which investigated the Mamasapano clash in 2015, said it is the prerogative of Gordon as chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee to conduct his own inquiry.
But she said that “it would be in the best interest of the public and members of the Senate to know the clear objectives of Senator Gordon in putting forward such proposal.”
“Whatever new and relevant information that can be unearthed from this inquiry, in aid of legislation, will be beneficial not only to the families of the SAF 44 (members of the PNP Special Action Force killed in the operation), but also to the Filipino people,” she added.
Poe also appealed to the critics of decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to give the office the opportunity to review the case through the processes allowed by law and remedies given to the parties involved in the case.
She said that the people pushing for the reopening of the Senate inquiry should also be prepared for the possibility that former president Benigno Aquino III, if he will be invited to the hearing, could refuse to talk based on the legal principle of sub judice.
Sen. Sonny Angara urged Gordon to take into consideration the findings made during the previous inquiry, along with all the testimonies given then, since these were exhaustive already.
He recalled how much time was spent for all the testimonies during those hearings, as well as the executive session conducted to hear the accounts of survivors from the SAF.
As for the side of Aquino, Angara noted that then executive secretary Pacquito Ochoa was present during the hearings where transcript of the text exchanges between Aquino and Purisima was bared.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said so much time was already spent during the previous hearings so he would like to know what else has not been covered to justify the reopening of the probe.
Gatchalian said that it would be best for the senators to discuss this proposal of Gordon to determine if a new hearing would be necessary.
For Sen. Leila de Lima, the planned reopening of the inquiry is meant to crucify Aquino and nothing else.
“This investigation will have no other purpose than to once again crucify the former president, and squeeze this issue for all the juice left and what it is still worth, in order to cover up for the present administration’s own bunglings and incompetence,” De Lima said in a handwritten note from her detention facility in Camp Crame.
“So, what for is the planned reopening of the probe, when the matter is going through its normal legal course in the Office of the Ombudsman. For all the circus objectives that the revived Mamasapano investigation has to offer, to me it’s meant to be a mere distraction from the incompetence of this government and the subservience of Congress, and yet again, as a political leverage and harassment versus the opposition,” she added.
De Lima said that she is torn by the move of the ombudsman to indict the former president in relation to the Mamasapano clash.
On the one hand, De Lima said that this is something that the families of the SAF members who were killed would welcome “as it could bring a sense of relief and justice for those who risked and lost their lives in the service of our country on that fateful day.”