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Alan the suspended

February 16, 2015February 16, 2015 mcmangahas Leave a comment

By Charmaine P. Lirio

AS A SUSPENDED Director General of the Philippine National Police, did Alan L. Purisima have any authority or power to advise President Benigno S. Aquino III about the PNP-Special Action Force operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao?

While a suspension order is “a preventive measure, not a penalty,” court rulings say that such an order “temporarily prohibits the exercise of functions of the respondent’s office.”

President Benigno S. Aquino III converses with Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan Purisima during the 34th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Chiefs of Police (ASEANAPOL) Conference at the Luzon Ballroom of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City on Tuesday (May 13, 2014). The Philippines is a founding member of the ASEANAPOL which held its first conference in Manila in 1981 and has been holding annual conferences since hosted by member-agencies. The PNP last hosted the 23rd ASEANAPOL conference in Manila on September 2003 | Photo by Rey Baniquet | Malacañang Photo Bureau | PCOO

Last week at the Senate, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago lashed out at Purisima who said he attended a meeting with the President on Jan. 9, 2015 about the PNP’s “Operation Plan Exodus” in Maguindanao. Purisima resigned his post only on Feb. 7, 2015 or two months into his six-month suspension order from the Ombudsman.

Citing Aldovino v. COMELEC, Santiago questioned Purisima’s authority to advise the President even while he is serving out his suspension order.

In that case, the Supreme Court explained that a preventive suspension order may be issued by virtue of the Local Government Code, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or the Ombudsman Act.

Under Section 24 of Republic Act No. 6770 or the Ombudsman Act, preventive suspension may be ordered by the Ombudsman or his deputy “if in his judgment the evidence of guilt is strong, and (a) the charge against such officer or employee involves dishonesty, oppression or grave misconduct or neglect in the performance of duty; (b) the charges would warrant removal from the service; or (c) the respondent’s continued stay in office may prejudice the case filed against him.”

The Ombudsman placed Purisima and other police officials under a six-month preventive suspension in December 2014 in relation to a graft complaint alleging irregularities in the PNP’s 2011 contract with a courier service. Purisima is also facing investigation for plunder.

Preventive suspension is a preliminary step in an investigation, which serves to prevent an accused from using his office to influence the prosecution of a case against him. It “gives a premium to the protection of the service rather than to the interests of the individual office holder.”

Based on previous court rulings, a preventive suspension order:

* Is a preventive measure, not a penalty

* Temporarily prohibits the exercise of functions of the respondent’s office

* Is suspension without pay

* Continues until the case is terminated by the Office of the Ombudsman but should not exceed six months, per the Ombudsman Act

* Does not strip the accused of the title to his office

* Once lifted, reinstates the official to the exercise of his position.

For violating the suspension order against him, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales has warned that Purisima may be charged with usurpation of authority, according to a GMA News report. Usurpation of authority is a crime punishable with imprisonment of up to six years under the Revised Penal Code.

References:

Aldovino v. Comelec, G.R. No. 184836, December 23, 2009. http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2009/december2009/184836.htm

Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon, et al v. Jesus D. Francisco Sr., G.R. No. 172553, December 14, 2011. http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2011/december2011/172553.htm#_ftnref12

Ombudsman v. Valeroso, G.R. No. 167828, April 2, 2007. http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2007/april2007/167828.htm

Quotes and quips on Mamasapano

February 16, 2015February 16, 2015 Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

What senators and resource persons said at the hearings

THE SENATE resumes today its investigation into the Mamasapano incident that led to the death of 44 members of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force, 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters, and five civilians.

Senate of the Philippines photo

Only the senators who are members of three committees, however, will hear the testimonies of some SAF survivors in executive session today, February 16, 2015.

We have compiled some of the important and memorable quotes from senators and resource persons, including the exchanges among them, on the first three days of the Senate hearings on the Mamasapano incident last week.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago | Senate of the Philippines photo

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago:

That is the truth, Your Honor. - Resigned PNP chief Allan Purisima when asked for details by Santiago about his participation in the planning and execution of Oplan Exodus.

There are many truths. – Retort to Purisima

Hmmm. Maniwala naman ako sa iyo. – Answer to Purisima while the resigned PNP chief was answering her questions.

Failure to convey vital information to a peace partner is a sign of bad faith. – To MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal

Can you claim with a straight face that you did not know that Marwan and Usman were operating in your sphere of control? – Sen. Santiago to MILF’s Iqbal

I get upset and outraged when the occasion calls for it.

Sino nag-udyok sa iyo na makialam ka? – Question to resigned PNP chief Allan Purisima

Lahat na lang ituro sa SAF commander, sentido komon na lang ho ito.

Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? – Question to Purisima

Kung hindi ka sana sumali baka buhay pa sila. – Comment to Purisima after the resigned PNP chief detailed his participation in Oplan Exodus

Don’t play words with me, words are my livelihood. – To Purisima after the resigned PNP chief said that he was only giving “advices,” not “orders” to ex-PNP chief Getulio Napenas

Nakialam ka eh – Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago to Purisima

I’m already gasping for breath. – Sen. Santiago halfway into her interpellation of resigned PNP chief Allan Purisima

People engaged in coup d’etat plans have been in this cottage industry for so long. – Sen. Santiago after saying that she had received information that there are plans to mount a coup d’etat against the Aquino administration

Please forgive my abrasive method but I am shocked and traumatized by this event – Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago to resource persons

Five million ang pinag-aawayan, 44 ang namatay - Sen. Santiago to the $5 million bounty for the arrest of Marwan, a bomb-maker who has been placed under the Most Wanted list of the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation

You have accepted responsibility like a gentleman but who are pulling the strings behind your back? – Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago’s question to ex-SAF chief, Chief Supt. Getulio Napeñas

Nothing fails like a failure. – On the blunders leading to the killing of the SAF44

Anong klaseng operation to, may gulatan?

May baril siya, may camera siya, ang yabang yabang niya. – Santiago says in describing taker of video showing SAF commando shooting

Video so gruesome, it will infest your nightmares. – Sen. Santiago

Iniisa-isa sila, they were just sitting ducks there, Santiago says

You are a failure, you are incompetent – To ex-SAF director, Chief Supt. Getulio Napenas

Bakit hindi kayo pumunta ng maaga pa para hindi pa gising ang mga Muslim? Santiago asks Napenas

The SAF troopers were like rats, drowned without any prospect of support, they fought heroically but they ran out of bullets.

Ngayon lang ako nakarinig na ipapaalam mo sa boss mo sa kalagitnaan na ng pangyayari – Santiago to Napenas

You assumed responsibility for the fiasco, that is your misfortune – Santiago to Chief Supt. Getulio Napenas

THE UNANSWERED

Who informed the President? – Sen. Nancy Binay asks police and military generals. Long silence follows. No one answers.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal | Senate of the Philippines photo

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, left, attends the probe of the Upper House on the Mamasapano clash. Iqbal had just arrived from a forum in Indonesia | Senate of the Philippines photo

Let’s search for the truth, truth hurts but it shall set you free. – MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, quoting a passage from the Bible in answering a question from Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago

I am so sure that not everybody will believe that the findings of the MILF is the real truth on the ground, we need an impartial body to conduct the investigation.

We have a problem now with perception and misconception.

Mahirap paghiwalayin ang mga boxers. – Iqbal’s description of the Mamasapano clash when asked why the fighting took several hours to stop

International laws apply not only to MILF but also to government.

There is no other option except peace.

What the families of the killed SAF feel is also being felt by families of the slain MILF members.

Hindi lang dapat hustisya para sa malakas, importante ang hustisya rin para sa mahina. - Answer to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano

Nauna po kami na naging biktima. – Answer to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano

Wala nang pwedeng lalaban sa gobyerno if na address na ang legitimate problems of the Moro people.

We organized dahil hindi patas ang laban.

We promised our people that peace will be our legacy, we seek your help to make this possible. – Appeal to the Philippine government.

Peace process is important to us and everybody, brought the promise of good life and our people, contains our hopes and dreams.

28 member of the SAF are alive today because of the efforts of the MILF and the “will of God.”

We cannot change the past… we must honor them by making sure that this does not happen again…Lahat tayo naghahangad ng katarungan para sa ?SAF 44 but justice for innocent civilians important, too.

BETTER DAYS. President Benigno S. Aquino III converses with Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan Purisima during the 34th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Chiefs of Police (ASEANAPOL) Conference at the Luzon Ballroom of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City on May 13, 2014. The Philippines is a founding member of the ASEANAPOL which held its first conference in Manila in 1981 and has been holding annual conferences since hosted by member-agencies. The PNP last hosted the 23rd ASEANAPOL conference in Manila on September 2003 | Photo by Rey Baniquet | Malacañang Photo Bureau | PCOO

Resigned PNP Director General Alan L. Purisima:

I gave advices, not orders.

Again, when I made remarks those were mere advices.

I have to get clearance from the President. – When asked by senators about the time that he informed President Aquino about the clash between armed groups and SAF troopers on the ground in Mamasapano

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Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV

Road to peace is crucial, it is now in the hands of the government and MILF panels.

Maraming hawks, lalo na dito sa Maynila, marami ang maiinit ang ulo.

“Bakante,” there is nothing written on “lessons learned” part of the after-operations report for Oplan Exodus. – Trillanes after reading the after-operations report of the PNP-SAF

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano | Photo from Alan Peter Cayetano’s Facebook page

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano:

I’m interested in these things. I am not an expert but I watch the movies. – Remark while interpellating resource persons about the conduct of the operations in Mamasapano.

Kapwa Pilipino ang biktima ninyo sa Mindanao. Kung hindi kayo gumamit ng dahas peaceful ngayon ang Mindanao. – Addressed to MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal who attended the hearing on the Mamasapano clash

Nagluluksa po kami, we mourn with you but one injustice cannot solve another injustice. – Answer to MILF’s Iqbal after Iqbal presented a history of massacres involving Moro communities in Mindanao

Cayetano: Kung matatalo kayo sa eleksyon… ?MIL’s Iqbal: eh di talo… Kung manalo kayo… Iqbal: eh di maganda.

Meron ding Kristyano na terorista. – To ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman who lamented that the Bangsamoro is seemingly being blamed for the violence in Mindanao

Sen. Gregorio Honasan | Photo by Senate of the Philippines

Sen. Gregorio Honasan:

How do you fight the idea of terrorism? Fight it with a better idea. – Opening remarks during the February 13 Senate hearing on the Mamasapano incident

The solution here is institutional. Even if we kill all high-value targets, Marwan has 300 graduates.

Leave a legacy of lasting peace. To acting PNP chief, Dir. Gen. Leonardo Espina

Don’t die early, run after those who killed the SAF 44. – Advice to Gen. Espina

This is not an order, just a suggestion… an advice (laughter heard).

Mission accomplished but at what cost?

If Army units in Mindanao were listed as “friendlies” why were their commanders not informed about operation?

Sen. Vicente Sotto III | Photo from Senate of the Philippines

Sen/ Vicente Sotto III:

I will object if you do not allow her to speak first, Sen. Miriam will give more life to this probe. On yielding to Sen. Santiago to interpellate the resource persons of at the Senate hearing

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman:

Parang ang lahat ng kasalan ng nangyayari sa Mindanao kasalan ng Bangsamoro.

‘Walang eroplano, walang bazooka’

February 14, 2015February 14, 2015 Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

WE are reblogging this article originally titled “Q and A with MILF Commander Haramen on Mamasapano: Walang eroplano, walang bazooka” published on the MindaNews website on February 13, 2015. It includes a Q and A by MindaNews’ Carolyn O. Arguillas with Commander Haramen, operations commander of the 7th Brigade of the 105thBase Command of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF).

SITIO AMILIL, Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao (MindaNews/12 Feb) — The few residents living along the highway in Barangay Tuka saw the signs of war when several truckloads of “sundalo” in full battle gear arrived late Saturday evening, January 24, disembarked from their vehicles and walked to the direction of Tukanalipao, some two kilometers away.

Bai Monera, 40, said the “sundalo” left their vehicles on the road. “Sundalo” in these areas is generic for government forces in camouflage uniform and the regulation boots. Monera only knew they were “pulis” when they heard the news the next day that members of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police (PNP-SAF) operated near their area.
Sunday dawn, January 25, gunshots awakened residents near and far. By evening, what would be the highest death toll in a single day clash between the government (GPH) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the last 18 years — 67 — happened: 44 from the SAF, 18 from the MILF, and five civlians, according to the Commission on Human Rights.

The tragedy in Mamasapano happened 10 months after the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and came at such a crucial time, as Congress was deliberating on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that would serve as the charter of the future Bangsamoro Government, the new autonomous political entity that both parties had targeted to install by 30 June 2016.

Click on the photo to read the full article on the MindaNews website.

MILF commander Haramen (right) is escorted by his men, narrated what happened on January 25, 2015 in an interview two Sundays later, February 8, at the cornfields in Sitio Amilil, Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao | MindaNews photo by Gregorio Bueno

Mindanao: A memory of massacres

February 13, 2015February 13, 2015 mcmangahas Leave a comment

By Julius D. Mariveles

WITH seemingly unassailable certitude, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano proclaimed on Thursday what he deems to be the reason why peace eluded Mindanao for ages.

“Kung hindi kayo gumamit ng dahas, peaceful ngayon ang Mindanao,” said Cayetano, his voice angry and eyes fixed on Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the peace panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). By Cayetano’s hypothesis, the MILF is entirely to blame for the lack of peace in Mindanao. (If you had not used force, Mindanao would still be peaceful today.)

It was not, to be sure, a cozy conversation over coffee. Cayetano had chastised Iqbal during the live telecast of the Senate’s hearing on the recent firefight between the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force and the MILF in Mamaspano, Maguindanao. The clash killed 44 SAF troopers, 18 MILF rebels, and eight civilians, and left scores more wounded.

Yet before Iqbal could respond, Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, retorted: “It seems as if that everything bad that is happening in Mindanao is being blamed on the Bangsamoro,” Hataman said, his voice breaking at one point.

Cayetano followed with a mouthful of bolder conclusions. The MILF, he decried, had negotiated for peace “from the barrel of the gun/” But he explained, too, that he did not mean to say that only Muslims are terrorists because there are “more Christian terrorists than Muslim terrorists.”

And when he finally had a chance to speak, Iqbal recounted a series of massacres of Muslim Filipinos that he said prompted Muslim Filipinos to organize the MILF.

“Massacres and rights violations took place through the decades. This is why the MILF was established – to fight for independence… we organized dahil hindi patas ang laban (we organized because it was not a fair fight),” Iqbal said.

Was Mindanao indeed a peaceful place before the MILF came into existence?

Iqbal has, in fact, authored a book “A Nation Under Endless Tyranny,” that outlines the historical narrative of conflict and violence in Mindanao.

In it, Iqbal narrated the atrocities that the Ilaga (literally, “rat” in the Hiligaynon language), a group of Christians, reportedly carried out against Moro communities. He wrote under the pseudonym Salah Jubair.

The Ilaga had also been referred to as the “Ilonggo Landgrabbers,” or the wave of migrants that resettled in Mindanao through the years.

From 1970 to 1971, the Ilaga (translated to mean “Ilonggo Landgrabbers”) launched a series of 21 massacres that left 518 people dead, 184 injured, and 243 houses burned down, according to Marjanie Salic Macasalong in her dissertation titled “The Liberation Movements in Mindanao: Root Causes ad Prospects for Peace.”

The supposed Ilaga “infestation” is considered in historical annals to be just the second trigger to the growth of separatist movements in Mindanao. The first was, of course, the Jabidah Massacre of March 17,1968.

The incident resulted in the death of 64 Muslim trainees of the Philippine Army that had trained for what was called “Project Merdeka,” an attempt by the Philippine government to destabilize and eventually take over by invasion the resource-rich island of Sabah in Malaysia, Macasalong said, citing the book “Under the Crescent Moon: Rebellion in Mindanao” by journalists Marites D. Vitug & Glenda M. Gloria.

The Muslim trainees backed out upon knowing that the real mission was to invade Sabah and not – as they had been initially told — to fight Communist insurgent. Because “Project Merdeka” was a top military and political secret, senior officers of the Armed Forces who were in charge of the operation had reportedly decided to execute all the trainees rather than expose the operation.

Macasalong’s dissertation was submitted in February 2013 for a Masters Degree in Islamic and Other Civilization Studies at the International Islamic University in Malaysia.

But Macasalong had more data to offer. “According to another source,” she wrote, “the number of Moro victims killed by the Army, (Philippine Constabulary), and Ilaga reached as high as 10,000 lives.”

“In addition, thousands of Moro houses, mosques, and Arabic schools were destroyed. This made the Muslims paranoid and even more distrustful of Christians as a whole,” the study said.

And in the face of the violence, what did the national government do?

“Instead of quelling the atrocities, the government helped and gave shelter to Feliciano Lucas, the prime suspect and leader of the Ilaga. Alias ‘Commander Toothpick’, Lucas was reported to have been given a red-carpet reception at the Malacañang Palace in Manila when he ‘surrendered’ to President Marcos,” Macasalong wrote.

“Strangely enough,” she noted, “this prime suspect was released in his hometown with military escorts in order to protect him from being killed or arrested because of the warrants issued to him. Instead of being punished, the Ilaga leader was, according to the late Congressman Salipada Pendatun, ‘knighted’ and ‘bade to go back to his kingdom to bear more arms and commit further depredations.”

The table below shows some of the massacres reportedly committed by the Ilaga. Some of the attacks were carried out simultaneously, and others, only a day apart.

The Manili Massacre had the highest death toll — 70 civilians, including women and children, killed. It was “one of the most horrible massacres” carried out by the Ilaga.

Teng Addie Nagli, one of the surviving victims was a seven-year-old child when it happened. Macasalong quoted his recollection of the event in her thesis: “Wth armed men no longer around, (I) saw all the dead lying in a pool of ankle-deep blood. There was a child with a hack wound on the head; an old man with a dagger still stuck to his right waist.”

“This was (when) I cried,” Teng Addie Nagli recalled. “I’ll never forget what I saw till the day I die. Even up to now when I think about it, my heart tightens. It makes me want to take revenge because the wounds of the incident are still here.”

Forty years after the Jabidah Massacre, the Mamasapano clash occurred, prompting quick jabs by Senator Cayetano at “Muslim terrorists” and the MILF as the reason why peace has eluded Mindanao.

The 44 SAF troopers who died in the clash have been justly and deservedly honored by a grateful nation. But in the remembering, the civilians and the MILF fighters who died, too, have been forgotten somehow.

It was only two weeks and four public hearing days later that public attention has been focused on the other casualties of the clash – 18 MILF fighters and eight civilians, including a girl of 8 and a farmer who left house early to charge his cellphone battery.

The exchange of fire between policemen and the MILF killed eight-year-old Sarah Panunggulon, according to ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman.

Barudin Lagalan, 22, Muhammad Amblang, 30, a farmer, and five other civilians died in the clash, too.

Langalan was found with his hands tied, dead along with the SAF troopers. His wife said he was on his way to the public market early in the morning of January 25 charge his cellphone. Hataman said it appeared that the SAF troopers had arrested Langalan, when the latter came out of his hut early that fateful morning of Jan.25. – PCIJ, February 2015

Diokno: Protect witnesses & files, depoliticize Mamasapano probe

February 13, 2015February 13, 2015 mcmangahas Leave a comment

PRESERVE all physical and electronic evidence. Document the stories of witnesses on ground and provide them protection. Appoint an independent panel of experts to conduct a thorough, objective, and “depoliticized” inquiry.

To ferret out the truth behind the Mamasapano incident, the Aquino government might do well to take these actions with dispatch, according to Atty. Jose Manuel ‘Chel’ Diokno, Dean of De la Salle University’s College of Law and national chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

By Atty. Jose Manuel I. Diokno
Dean, College of Law, De la Salle University
National Chairman, Free Legal Assistance Group

MORE THAN two weeks have elapsed since the Mamasampano operation occurred. Vital pieces of evidence from the crime scenes are being lost to to the elements, trampled, or contaminated. As the days pass, important electronic evidence in the form of text messages, e-mails, videos, and photographs may be lost, deleted or altered. Witnesses may also be harder to locate and interview.

Various government agencies, moreover, are conducting separate investigations of the incident. These include the Department of Justice, which recently created a Special Investigation Team composed of members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and National Prosecution Service (NPS) to probe the matter; the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), through the PNP Board of Inquiry; the Commission on Human Rights (CHR); and several committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Parallel but separate investigations by government agencies, each with their own interests to protect, have in the past resulted in contradictory findings and recommendations and in agencies blaming one another. If this happens here, who will the public believe? And how will the public know the truth?

Government must not allow this to happen. Government must act now to preserve the physical and electronic evidence, protect the witnesses, document their accounts, reconstruct what happened, and evaluate the evidence gathered. This can best be done by an independent panel of experts in forensics, international humanitarian law, and military and police operations, appointed by the Senate. The experts must be well respected in their fields of specialization, and of known probity and integrity.

Appointment of an independent panel of experts will not require legislation. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has engaged experts in the past, to assist in investigating controversial events like the coconut levy and PIATCO cases. The Rules of the Blue Ribbon Committee, in fact, authorize the Chair of the Committee to “engage the services of consultants to assist the Committee under such terms and conditions and with such authority and duties as he may determine.” [Section 3, Article 2, Rules of the Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations (Blue Ribbon)]

Appointment of an independent panel of experts will also depoliticize the investigation and prevent legislators from using it to grandstand for the coming elections.

Time is running out. Whatever evidence remains at the crime scene and other vital evidence must be preserved. Witnesses should be provided with protection and their stories should be documented. And the process must be removed from politics by appointing a panel of experts with the knowledge, expertise, and integrity to conduct a thorough, independent, and objective investigation of the Mamasapano operation.