Gazmin: Mamasapano ‘wounds’ should not affect AFP-PNP relations

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Tuesday admitted that the January 25 Mamasapano clash has caused a rift between the military and the police, but said this should not affect the good relations established by the two organizations in past operations.

“There are wounds to be healed but this should not affect the very good relations that have been established,” said Gazmin during the fifth and final Senate hearing on the Mamasapano incident.

He added that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been “working together in many operations” and that they had “many victories” together, one of them against the Moro National Liberation Front during the September 9, 2013 siege on Zamboanga City.

Gazmin made the statement after Senator Gregorio Honasan II asked if the country's security forces are ready to be engaged on all fronts to respond to possible external and internal threats if they happen at the same time.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said the AFP under Gazmin and the PNP under him can address all threats in the threat matrix put together by the National Security Council.

“In fact, over the last three years, the common trust of Sec. Volts (Gazmin) and myself is joint operations in regional level, national level, municipalities and barangay levels. In all regions at various levels, the PNP has counterpart with the AFP. We have a good working relationship with AFP, they are ready to meet these threats effectively and in a timely manner for the safety of our people,” he said.

The working relationship of the PNP and AFP  was put in question after the PNP Special Action Force pushed through with Oplan Exodus, a covert operation to take down Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Filipino bomb-maker Basit Usman, without close coordination with the AFP.

At the height of the operation on January 25, when members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were attacking the SAF commandos, the PNP sought the assistance of AFP for reinforcement and artillery support.

The AFP claimed they had a hard time helping the PNP due to lack of information and coordination.

Forty-four SAF commandos were killed in the incident.

During the hearing, relieved SAF chief Director Getulio Napeñas Jr. reiterated that the military failed to provide artillery support to his men during the encounter.
 
Major General Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, held back tears as he explained that the troops did everything to help the SAF commandos.

"For me, all the efforts were given. All the efforts were done, in order for you to be helped, in spite of the things you’ve done, not coordinating with us. Papaano naman ang damdamin namin? Paano naman po ang damdamin ng mga taong tumulong? Iyan po ang masakit sa akin,” Pangilinan told Napeñas during the hearing. —KBK, GMA News