Charging predecessor not his style, Rody says

DAVAO CITY – President Duterte told his predecessor Benigno Aquino III – not to blame him for the charges relating to the 2015 killing of 44 Special Action Force policemen in Mamasapano Maguindanao.

“President Aquino, it is not my style. It is not in my system (to file charges against former officials). (The charges against) you, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, the Ombudsman – it did not come from me. You can ask anyone. It is not just my style,” Duterte said upon his arrival from India over the weekend.

But the President was quick to point out it would probably be a different story if he comes face to face with Aquino one of these days.

“You know, anything can go wrong there,” Duterte said.

The Mamasapano incident was among the biggest crises the Aquino presidency faced. That predawn mission to arrest two al-Qaeda-linked militants triggered a bloody encounter between the police SAF commandos and hundreds of gunmen that left 44 SAF troopers, 18 Moro fighters and several civilians dead.

On Thursday, the solicitor general asked the Supreme Court to order the ombudsman to charge Aquino, former national police chief Alan Purisima and former SAF director Getulio Napeñas for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide.

Duterte said he would no longer convene a commission to look into the case since charges were already filed against Aquino, Purisima and several others.

“They are facing charges. What more do you want? We can only presume that they did it in the wrong way. It is there, PNoy (Aquino) is already charged,” he added, citing Murphy’s Law that says: if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.

While he said that he is “not prepared to accuse anyone personally,” he pointed out his sentiments on the incident.

“The Air Force has many TOG (Tactical Operations Group). Now, they (SAF) were pinned down, started at 11, maybe 10 o’clock in the morning. They were already pinned down… until sunset,” the President said.