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How long is this going to take?
“President Noynoy Aquino has interviewed two potential successors of resigned Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan Purisima,” reports Louis Bacani on Philstar.com.
According to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas, Aquino interviewed on Monday PNP Officer-in-Charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina and Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo.
Roxas said in an interview with reporters during the turnover of command of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF), “He’s just asking for their records and, perhaps, when the time comes he’s going to decide.”
The report recalled: “Purisima resigned in February amid allegations that he orchestrated the anti-terror operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that killed 44 Special Action Force (SAF) troopers. Prior to his resignation, Purisima was suspended by the Ombudsman for six months over corruption allegations.”
For the record, Purisima is still a four-star general and he’ll get all the added benefits that come with his position once he retires. He only resigned from being PNP Chief, but he’s still with the PNP.
The encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan 25 left 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF) dead. The PNP-SAF troopers had been out to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman. Both men had bounties on their heads placed by the U.S. government: US$5 million for Marwan and US$1 million for Usman.
The operation turned bloody when members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said they had to fight back because the PNP-SAF had breached their territory. They alleged that they had not been informed about the operation to get Marwan and Usman. The hostile encounter lasted 11 hours. The MILF lost 18 of their fighters.
Both the government and the MILF are currently doing probes on the Mamsapano encounter to determine what went wrong, as the incident threatens the Bangsamoro peace deal. It has since been revealed that the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and even some armed civilians were also involved in the clash.
Photo: Rey Baniquet, Malacañang Photo Bureau file photo
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