Calida requests SC to order homicide raps vs. Aquino

Solicitor General Jose C. Calida. (PNA photo)

Solicitor General Jose Calida on Thursday has requested the Supreme Court (SC) to  direct the Office of the Ombudsman to file homicide charges against former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in relation to the botched anti-terrorism raid that happened three years ago.

In a manifestation, the government’s top lawyer supported the petition which was filed by two relatives of elite police officers who were killed in the bloody Mamasapano clash.

Calida asked the high court to nullify the Ombudsman’s decision that junked the reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide charges against Aquino, former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Alan Purisima, and former Special Action Force (SAF) director Getulio Napeñas Jr.

“Given that the President (Aquino) gave the policy direction to arrest Marwan and Usman, and that he approved Oplan Exodus with full knowledge of its operational details, the Chief Executive is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the mission,” the Sol-Gen said.

The Office of the Ombudsman has charged Aquino with violation of Section 3(a) of Republic Act 3109 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), the provision on the usurpation of official functions.

The Ombudsman filed the graft charges in November 2017, stressing that the former President “willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously” authorized the former PNP chief to take part in planning the bungled police operation.

Calida also urged the SC to halt the arraignment of Aquino, Purisima, and Napeñas before the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division on February 15.

The top lawyer’s appeal came three years after 44 elite commandos were killed in an encounter with armed groups in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, after they neutralized Malaysian terror suspect Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan.

Marwan’s right-hand Filipino bomber, Abdul Basit Usman, was able to escape but was later on killed in May 2015 by Moro rebels.

The Mamasapano clash sparked public outrage and terminated peace negotiations between the Aquino government and the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Aquino retained that the anti-terror mission was not his fault, putting the blame on Napeñas who allegedly defied his orders to coordinate with the Army.

The former President also dismissed allegations that he held back military reinforcements to preserve a ceasefire with the MILF during the clashes.