The Palace had a field day blasting some holes on the Board of Inquiry (BOI) report that pointed out that President Benigno Aquino III broke the chain of command in relation to the tragedy that is the Mamasapano incident.
Among the many points they raised were that “the President is not covered by the chain of command” since the process applies more to the military rather than a civilian organization which is what the PNP and their Special Action Forces (SAF) is all about.
They also said that the BOI had every opportunity to ask the President to clarify his role and position on the operation that claimed the lives of 44 SAF police commandos including a meeting at an unspecified time and place.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima even went further by saying that the chain of command concept is not only inapplicable but illegal and thus has no binding effect on the President, who has “absolute control of” every official in the PNP.
For good measure, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda was quite emphatic when he said that President Benigno Aquino III left nothing to chance by specifically instructing then suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima to coordinate with acting PNP chief Leonardo Espina in conducting the operation.
Good points for the Palace to make in ensuring that the President’s culpability in this tragic episode is limited to making amateurish armchair decisions that spelled doom for 44 SAF commandos whose job description included the real risk of dying in the line of duty.
The kind of decisions that won’t result in impeachment or filing of criminal and administrative charges that may oust him from office or hound him once he steps down from office.
All quite convenient and effective responses to a BOI report that the Palace said was “filled with innuendos and speculations” but was hampered by the stonewalling of the President and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which insisted on submitting their report to Malaysia without bothering to give a copy to the national government.
It’s no small irony that the Palace response comes on the heels of President Aquino delivering his address to this year’s Philippine Military Academy (PMA) class.
While the military and the police have not been, to use a social media term, “besties,” even with the Mamasapano incident, the fallout from that tragedy had perhaps made them sympathize with each other because they’re all serving a Commander in Chief whose grasp of military and police operations—as evidenced by that Luneta hostage massacre a few years back—is limited to playing “Counter-Strike” online video games.
The President may be exempted from the chain of command but he isn’t exempt from public condemnation, ridicule and contempt for the way he handled the whole incident.
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