1
Dowie Mae M. Matienzo
Legal Research and Thesis Writing
ON AQUINOS COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY
The clash between government forces and various armed groups ensued on
January 25, when some 392 SAF commandos entered Mamasapano town in
Maguindanao. They were targeting two high-ranking Jemaah Islamiyah-affiliated,
improvised-explosive-device experts, Zulkifli Abdhir (also known as Marwan)
and Abdul Basit Usman. 1
The government said the SAF commandos were able to kill Marwan during the
operation, as confirmed by the FBI and the due to a matching DNA result, but
combined forces of the MILF unit in the area and breakaway group Bangsamoro
Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) allegedly surrounded them on their way out of
Mamasapano.
The police operation was known as Oplan Exodus
where Forty-four (44)
members of the Special Action Force (SAF)-Considered as the elite unit of the
Philippine National Police (PNP) against terrorism and internal security threats-lost
their lives in Mamasapano, while sixteen (16) other SAF members sustained severe
injuries, 18 from MILF and 5 from the BIFF, and several civilians.2
After the incident, it emerged that acting PNP Chief Leonardo Espina and
Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas were kept out of the loop during
the operations. President Benigno Aquino III admitted knowing about the general
details of the matter but refused to answer whether he made specific orders for the
January 25 operations.
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamasapano_clash
2 https://butilngkaalaman.wordpress.com/tag/oplan-exodus/
3 http://www.rappler.com/nation/82681-command-responsibility-maguindanao-clash
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Based on the records, Oplan Exodus was approved by the President and
implemented by suspended CPNP Purisima and the Director of SAF (Napeas)
Getulio Napeas, to the exclusion of the Officer-in-Charge of the Philippine National
Police (OIC PNP) Leonardo Espina, who is the concurrent Deputy CPNP for
Operations.
On December 16, 2014, the OIC-PNP issued Special Order No. 9851 which
directed suspended CPNP Purisima and other suspended PNP officers, to cease and
desists from performing the duties and functions of their respective offices during the
pendency of [their respective cases filed by the Ombudsman] until its termination.
Napeas and suspended CPNP Purisima ignored the established PNP Chain of
Command by excluding OIC-PNP Espina in the planning and execution of Oplan
Exodus. Napeas and suspended CPNP also failed to inform the Secretary of the
Interior and Local Government (SILG) Mar Roxas about Oplan Exodus, and made no
prior coordination with the AFP. Based on the records, SILG and OIC-PNP were
informed of Oplan Exodus only in the morning of January 25, 2015 when such
operation was already being executed. OIC-PNP was first informed about Oplan
Exodus through a phone call by suspended CPNP Purisima at 05:50 a.m. on January
25, 2015. SILG learned about the operation when he got an SMS from Police Director
Charles Calima Jr. at 07:43 a.m. on January 25, 2015.
The participation of the suspended CPNP in Oplan Exodus was carried out
with the knowledge of the President. Records revealed instances when the suspended
CPNP met with the President and Napeas to discuss Oplan Exodus; and
communicated with the President via SMS messages regarding the execution of Oplan
Exodus on January 25, 2015.4
The Mamasapano incident raises serious question about whether President
Aquino is liable in Mamasapano fiasco for violating command responsibility rule. I
believe that President Aquino has incurred any liability on the principle of command
responsibility under international law.
4 Executive Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations of the PNP-BOI Report on the
Mamasapano incident
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The doctrine was recently been codified in the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) to which the Philippines is signatory. Sec. 28 of
the Statute imposes individual responsibility on military commanders for crimes
committed
by
forces
under
their
control.
According to the doctrine of command responsibility, a superior may be held
criminally responsible for a crime committed by his subordinates if it is proven that
despite his awareness of the crimes of subordinates, he fails to fulfil his duties to
prevent and punish these crimes.
I believe that International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is applicable to the
Mamasapano massacre that led to the heroism of the SAF 44. President Aquino may
be held liable on the basis of command responsibility.
There is principle in customary international law called command
responsibility, if crimes have been committed by soldiers we put on the ground, the
person who ordered them to be in the scene of the crime or the arena of combat is
equally responsible with the ordinary soldier or some other minor official. 5This is
called the principle of command responsibility and I believe that it applies to the
recent SAF killings.
The President has publicly acknowledged that he approved Oplan Exodus. He
knew of the importance and magnitude of the operation, as well as the dangers that it
posed to the operating troops. 6As the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the
Philippines, the President exercises supreme operational command of the nations
military forces. The President also controls all the executive departments, bureaus,
and offices. He wields the awesome powers of government, and has its vast resources
at his disposal. The Presidents decision not to use these resources at that instance,
must be explained by him. The President is ultimately responsible for the outcome of
the mission. In police or military operations, the decisions are made by ground
commanders. However, in this instance, what was required was inter-agency
coordination which might have been easily ordered by the Commander-in-Chief. The
President might have stepped in and taken responsibility, especially since he was
5 The Daily Tribune, April 10, 2015
6 PH Senate Investigation Report on Mamasapano Incident, January 25, 2015
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familiar
with
the
plan.7
President Aquino is at the top of the chain of command of the Philippine
National Police (PNP). The PNP is subject to the authority of the Department of
Interior and Local Government (DILG) under Secretary Mar Roxas who answers only
to the president. Yet, according to Roxas, he and PNP officer-in-charge Deputy
Director General Leonardo Espina had been left outside of the loop during the
planning and actual deployment of the PNP force to Mamasapano. Roxas also
admitted that he could have contributed to effecting better coordination with the AFP
had he been included in the initial stages of the operation and kept informed as it
transpired. In a statement to the media, Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap pointed out
that President BS Aquino had deliberately held back details about the operation in a
televised address last week, including the role of suspended Philippine National
Police (PNP) chief Alan Purisima and United States military forces, and continues to
do so.
Being Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the leader of the countrys
civilian law enforcement agencies, and the self-described god of the Filipino people
comes at a steep cost. Its time President Aquino pays up by accepting that the buck
stops at the Office of the President when it comes to most state affairs, in this case, to
military and police affairs where he is clearly the final commander.8
The Chain of Command in the PNP was violated. The President, the suspended
CPNP Purisima and the former Director SAF Napeas kept the information to
themselves and deliberately failed to inform OIC PNP and the SILG. The Chain of
Command should be observed in running mission operations. Despite Napenas
knowledge of the suspension order issued by the Ombudsman, Napenas followed the
instructions of suspended CPNP Purisima not to inform OIC-PNP and the Secretary of
the Interior and Local Government (SILG) Mar Roxas about Oplan Exodus. This
violated the PNP Chain of Command.
7 http://www.journal.com.ph/news/top-stories/pnoy-rapped
8 http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2015/02/3
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For instance, the Manual for PNP Fundamental Doctrine, requires the
Commander to discharge his responsibilities through a Chain of Command. Such
Manual provides that it is only in urgent situations when intermediate commanders
may be bypassed. In such instances, intermediate commanders should be notified of
the context of the order as soon as possible by both the commander issuing the order
and the commander receiving it.
With respect to Oplan Exodus, the Chain of Command in the PNP should have
been: OIC, CPNP PDDG Espina (as senior commander) to Napeas (as intermediate
commander). PDG Purisima could not legally form part of the Chain of Command by
reason of his suspension.
The principle of Command Responsibility demands that a commander is
responsible for all that his unit does or fails to do. Command Responsibility cannot be
delegated or passed-on to other officers. Under the Manual for PNP Fundamental
Doctrine, Command Responsibility can never be delegated otherwise it would
constitute an abdication of his role as a commander. He alone answers for the success
or failure of his command in all circumstances.
Based on the records, Napeas admitted that he had command responsibility
with respect to Oplan Exodus.9
The chain of command is present even in business organizations. Its the
formal line of authority, responsibility in communication. This is the relationship of
superior and his subordinate. The root cause of the chaos and even the deaths that
resulted from the secret operation was mainly because President broke the chain of
command. There was chaos because the normal chain of command, the whole
command structure, was bypassed, and President Aquino made his own chain of
command. the chain of command during the Mamasapano incident consisted only of
Aquino, Purisima and Napeas10
The President is ultimately responsible in Mamasapano incident for sending a
team on a mission with no knowledge of an area which every local knows as MILF
9 Executive Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations of the PNP-BOI Report on the
Mamasapano incident
10 MST News, Mar. 17, 2015
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territory, for not sharing with the Armys 6th Infantry Division information on this
critical operation when this unit has the better knowledge of the terrain and the
deployment of all armed groups, all in the effort to keep the peace, for not directly
telling the MILF to order their troops to stop fighting, knowing that these elements
were only a cell phone text away and for allowing a suspended chief of the police to
oversee an operation that is not his responsibility anymore.
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