Was CIA involved in Mamasapano mission?
InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE 3 - 3:49 p.m.) Was the US’ chief spy agency involved in the preparation for and, possibly, the execution of the disastrous January 25, 2015 mission to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan?
This possibility emerged at the resumption Wednesday of the Senate inquiry into the Mamasapano incident when Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, who requested the reopening of the probe, questioned former Special Action Force commander Getulio Napenas on the US’ involvement in Oplan Exodus.
Asked if the operation was solely a Philippine effort, Napenas replied that the US, through its Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines based in Zamboanga City, provided real time intelligence support, training and equipment during the preparations and, during the execution, humanitarian and medical support and “investigation,” referring to the handover of Marwan’s finger to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for DNA confirmation.
Napenas also confirmed that the units involved in the operation were trained by a combination of US military and JSOTF members.
When Enrile asked whether the CIA participated in Exodus, Napenas said the name of the agency was “never mentioned” but added that because intelligence was involved, it was “likely” that personnel from the spy agency were also involved.
Enrile then asked why the US military or, possibly, the CIA were involved in a “purely police matter.”
Napenas surmised that this was because the mission to get Narwan was “part of (the US) war on terror” and the SAF’s “primary mission is counterterrorism.”
But when asked by Enrile, he said he did not know if the Visiting Forces Agreement or another agreement had been invoked to justify the Americans’ involvement in Exodus.
Enrile said he asked about the VFA because the pact “deals only with the military” and “does not cover the enforcement of the criminal laws of the Philippines.”
“This is something that the government must explain,” why it allowed “a police matter to include US participation,” he added.
Violation of the Constitution
The Anakpawis party-list and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said the testimony on American involvement showed that Exodus was a US-led and funded operation approved by Aquino, and called for him to be made accountable for what they called a violation of the Constitution and the VFA.
They also warned that the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which allows more US military presence and the use of local military bases by the Americans, might lead to more incidents like Mamasapano.
“Aquino should be held accountable (for) the loss of lives of SAF troopers, MILF fighters and civilians who died in the bloody operation,” Anakpawis Representative Fernando Hicap said. “We also condemn the US government’s continuing military intervention; they are only using our country as the staging point of their anti-terror drive. That is why the SC decision approving EDCA’s legality was a big mistake as it will further produces more of US proxy war that endangers civilian populace.”
Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said: “From the testimonies of the witnesses, it is not even clear who among the PNP brass authorized the joint counterterror operations with the US JSOTF. One can only speculate that the joint operation with the US just have been approved at the highest levels, by no less than the President himself.”
“The so-called ‘war on terror’ cannot be invoked to justify the US violation of the PH Constitution. With the EDCA in place and US forces again ready to put up their bases here, how long before they get involved in another Mamasapano?” he added.
'Paralyzed'
Enrile also tried to pin down former AFP chief of staff Gregorio Pio Catapang for not briefing Aquino when they were together in Zamboanga City as the SAF commandos were being pounded in Mamasapano, saying this indicated that the military command system had become “paralyzed.”
Catapang acknowledged that he was exchanging text messages with Purisima in Zamboanga but did not relay these to Aquino because it was “a PNP operation, I was not the one to tell the President, it should be the PNP to (tell) the President … what was happening.”
“So, the line of command (was) paralyzed that day, the command system of the AFP was paralyzed on that day, that was the reason for the loss of 44 people,” Enrile retorted.
But Catapang denied this, saying “the chain of command was never broken at that time” and that tactical commanders on the ground were making decisions.
“Our commanders are trained what to do in times of emergency, in times of contingency, they were there,” he said.
“That is their job, I can tell what to do, I cannot micro manage … them,” he added.
Catapang, who was invited by Aquino to go to Zamboanga, where there had been a bombing earlier, said it was General Rustico Guerrero, at the time head of the Western Mindanao Command, who informed him about the situation unfolding in Mamasapano.
“Immediately I instructed him to provide the necessary requirements to support, to help the SAF troopers that were engaged,” Catapang said.
Enrile also asked the police military officers whether they conducted an assessment of the situation while they were communicating with each other, to which Catapang replied: “We were not informed about this operation.”
Before this, Enrile also questioned Napenas and sacked PNP chief Alan Purisima about the briefing they gave President Benigno Aquino III on Oplan Exodus at the Bahay Pangarap in Malacanang on January 9, 2015.
Napenas confirmed that Aquino had ordered them to undertake "prior coordination" with the military but that he suggested instead "time on target," or when the SAF units were already in place, because the Armed Forces of the Philippines was "compromised."
He said Aquino posed no objection to his proposal.
He also confirmed that Purisima, who at the time was suspended on the graft charges for which he would eventually be dismissed from the service, had told him to inform then Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and acting PNP chief Leonardo Espina of Exodus only when the operation was already underway.
Purisima tried to explain that what he told Napenas was "not an order" but only a "suggestion" but Enrile brushed this aside, telling him: "But the tenor of your statement is an order."
