Napeñas recommended to keep AFP out of loop on Mamasapano op

Oplan Exodus, the Special Action Force (SAF) mission to serve warrants of arrest against three international terrorists hiding in Mamasapano, was a closely-kept secret between the SAF's commander, the chief of the Philippine National Police, and the President.

 

In a video obtained by GMA News, then SAF chief Police Director Getulio Napeñas Jr. can be seen giving a briefing at the headquarters of the Army 6th Infantry Division a day after the Jan. 25 clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.


 

During the briefing, which was attended by Interior Sec. Mar Roxas, Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin, AFP Chief of Staff General Gregorio Catapang, PNP OIC Leonardo Espina and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman, Napeñas explained that the mission was kept secret "considering the sensitivity of [the intelligence] packet" and because of previous failed operations.

Napeñas also admitted that the mission was coordinated with then suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima.

 

Pressed for more information, Napeñas told Roxas that the details of the mission were also discussed with Sr. Supt. Jojo Mendez, head of the PNP Intelligence Group.

 

"And we briefed the President, sir," Napeñas added.

 

He had also recommended to keep the Armed Forces of the Philippines out of the loop.

 

"My recommendation when I was briefing the president, sir, is, we will inform the AFP time on target, sir," he said. He later explained that that "time on target" meant when the SAF was already in the opearation area.

 

[WATCH: Full video of ex-SAF chief Napeñas' briefing a day after Mamasapano op]

 

During the briefing, Gazmin asked Napeñas when he informed the 6th ID about the SAF operation, to which the sacked SAF chief replied that he sent a text message "in between three and four in the morning."

 

At this point, Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the 6th ID showed Gazmin his mobile phone. 

 

"It says here, five. The text message was received 5 o'clock in the morning, 5:06," Gazmin said.

 

Napeñas replied he could not recall the exact time he sent the message, but that the message was sent when the SAF men were already in Mamasapano.

 

"That is not a coordination. You call that a coordination?" Gazmin asked.

The operation against Malaysian bomb makers Zulkifli bin Hir ("Marwan") and Amin Baco ("Jihad"), and Filipino bomb maker Basit Usman ended in a clash between SAF troopers and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and of the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

The bloody incident has been blamed on lack of coordination with the military, and with the MILF, which has maintained that its members were acting in self-defense during the firefight where 44 SAF troopers, 18 MILF fighters, and several civilians were killed. — JDS/DVM, GMA News