Napenas lawyer to PNoy: Who's the chief?

03/10/2015 7:37 PM
By Ira Pedrasa, ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA - The lawyer of relieved Special Action Force (SAF) chief Getulio Napeñas denied insubordination on the part of his client, saying he merely followed the instructions of the person to whom President Benigno Aquino III had entrusted the Mamasapano operations.

In an interview with ANC, Atty. Vitaliano Aguirre said Napeñas was only following the instructions of then suspended Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima, who had been communicating with and updating the president about Oplan Exodus.

One such meeting Aguirre cited was on January 9, where Purisima, Napenas, and PNP Intelligence Group Director Fernando Mendez updated Aquino on the plan to neutralize international terrorist Marwan.

Napenas and Mendez were later dismissed from the room, and Purisima was left discussing matters with Aquino. After the meeting, Purisima told Napenas to proceed with the Mamasapano operations even without informing PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas.

Purisima also told Napenas he would take care of the coordination with the military.

WHO'S THE BOSS?

“If you were in the place of Napenas -- [and] Purisima would give you instructions after a meeting with Aquino -- would you think that those did not come from the president?” he said.

Aguirre noted it was Aquino himself who put his confidence in Purisima to supervise the operation.

“Who placed Purisima, who was suspended then, to take charge over an important operation? Is it not the chief executive, or in military parlance, the commander-in-chief?”

He said Napeñas, a mere underling of the president, could not have questioned the president’s decision to allow Purisima to be in charge.

During a prayer gathering on Monday, Aquino told evangelical leaders led by Bro. Eddie Villanueva: “The truth is I was given the wrong information by the people who knew most of what was happening and, unfortunately, those who didn’t know anything couldn’t give me any further information rather than very raw information.”

Aquino also said there was no urgency in one text message sent by Napenas even if the SAF troopers were already under attack, referring to a forwarded text from the latter saying that an “extraction was ongoing.”

"I reread those texts because I thought, 'Why was there no sense of urgency that what was about to happen or was happening to the SAF 55 was dangerous?,'" Aquino had said.

Aguirre said, however, that Napenas used the right words. “Is it not the meaning of ‘extraction’ is to retreat after Marwan has been neutralized? That was the instruction.”

'WE CAN'T FIGHT CITY HALL'

Aguirre admitted that it’s his client’s words against the words of the most powerful man in the country. “There’s a saying that goes, ‘you can’t fight this city hall.’ In this case, you can’t fight Malacanang.”

He said Napenas still believes in the members of the Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry (BOI), which is set to finish its report on the Mamasapano incident on Thursday.

The board was supposed to release the results of its probe Monday, but asked for a new deadline on Thursday instead. The delay raised fears there could be a whitewash since Aquino has apparently preempted the results with his explanations on Monday.

Aguirre quoted Napenas as saying, “I still have faith in these people -- that they will be able to come out with a report that’s objective and acceptable to all.”

He said Napenas will accept the results of the probe.

“He’s already accepted responsibility from day one. As commander [of SAF], he is responsible for what his men did and did not do. That’s command responsibility… I believe many people should emulate what he did and not do things to escape responsibility,” Aguirre said.

He said Napenas was supposed to release a statement after the release of the BOI's findings, but Aquino’s statements prompted him to talk on behalf of the embattled police official.