By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS
It was President Aquino who informed Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang and the rest of the presidential party in Zamboanga on the Mamasapano debacle on Jan. 25, a source close to Malacañang said.
That’s why in the hearings in the Senate and the House of Representatives the three and Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, chief of Western Mindanao Command said they didn’t inform Aquino of the dawn carnage that left 44 members of the Special Action Force dead when they were with him throughout the day.
They all looked and sounded stupid or they thought the senators and the public were stupid to believe what they were saying. Gazmin said that when he learned of the encounter at 11 a.m., he felt no urgency to
tell the President. Besides, it was a police matter, he said.
Catapang also said he did not inform the President. Roxas said he didn’t realize the urgency of the incident.
Only suspended Police Chief Alan Purisima did not take the “I did not tell him” line. He asked that he be given time because he needs “to seek clearance from the President to answer the question.”
That’s because it was Purisima who informed the President of the debacle before he left for Zamboanga that day. He arrived there past 10 a.m.
This information surfaced when I remarked to a friend/source that it was obvious that everybody is covering up for the President, who should be made accountable for the death of the 44 SAF commandos.
The source said, “The senators were asking the wrong question. They asked Mar, Gazmin, and Catapang when they told the President. The persons they were asking did not inform the President about the Mamasapano incident. It was the President who informed them.”
Oh.
So that was it. Roxas, Gazmin, and Catapang were not lying. Perhaps if they were asked the right question, something like , “Did the President inform you or mention to you anything about an operation against two high-value terrorists?,” they would have answered truthfully. Perhaps.
Let’s see if they will be truthful when the senators ask them the right question in the next hearing.
***
This is what the President told members of the SAF at Camp Bagong Diwa early hours of Jan. 30 which confirms that he knew of the Mamasapano tragedy early:
“Bago pa lang sinabihan na ako ng resulta kay Marwan.
“Nang sinasayasat naming ang nangyari sa Zamboanga, dumadating ang mga report. May mga imbestigasyon na ginagawa. Gusto nga natin malaman paano tayo makasiguro na hindi tayo magkaroon ng ganung sakuna, ganitong insidente, ganitong kaso at least na napakabigat para sa inyo.
“Malaking bilang talaga sa mga Pilipino damang- dama talaga ang nangyari sa inyong mga kasamahan.”