Malaca帽ang on Wednesday denied charges of the three-member independent bloc in the House of Representatives that President Aquino had ordered the military to stand down during the Philippine National Police鈥檚 Mamasapano operation last year that resulted in the loss of 44 police commandos.
Sought for comment, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said 鈥渋n all the previous investigations, it had been clearly established that there was no such stand down order.鈥�
In a report, the group鈥攃omposed of Representatives Martin Romualdez of Leyte, Lito Atienza of Buhay party-list and Jonathan dela Cruz of Abakada party-list鈥攁lleged that the President鈥檚 failure to order artillery support for the beleaguered policemen was tantamount to a stand-down order.
Malaca帽ang, on the other hand, has blamed the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) leadership for the high death toll in the operation. 鈥淭he high number of casualties incurred by the PNP-SAF could have been averted if former SAF Director (Getulio) Nape帽as had coordinated with the Armed Forces of the Philippines in a timely manner,鈥� Coloma told the Inquirer.
Coloma, also head of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, earlier insisted that the President only gave 鈥済uidance鈥� in 鈥淥plan Exodus,鈥� the code name of the 聽SAF mission to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, which ended with the death of 44 SAF operatives in Mamasapano.
Contrary to claims of opposition Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Mr. Aquino was not directly involved in the operation, Coloma said.