Police Director Benjamin Magalong, BOI-PNP head.
Mar Roxas. Photo from KickerDaily.
Magalong said he met with Aquino in Malacañang on Tuesday together with Roxas and Philippine National Police Officer-in-Charge Leonardo Espina.
He said Roxas also apologized for failing to inform the President about the BOI’s request to interview him regarding the Mamasapano mission.
“Binanggit din niya syempre yung issue na bakit hindi ko siya na-interview. At in-explain ko rin sa kanya na, inamin din naman ni Secretary [Roxas] na talagang sa dami ng trabaho nakalimutan na mabanggit kay Presidente at dapat na-remind ko sila,” he said.
It will be recalled that Presidential Spokesperson scored the BOI for not getting the side of the President before issuing the report.
It was reported here Monday that Magalong asked Roxas last March 9 to relay their request to Aquino for an interview.
Following is the report of ABS-CBN’s Jeff Canoy:
“President Aquino was hurt by the findings of the Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry on the Mamasapano incident, according to the BOI chairman who was summoned to Malacanang to meet with the President.
Police Director Benjamin Magalong, chairman of the BOI and head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said he met with President Aquino in Malacanang on Tuesday, just days after the PNP released the full BOI report on the Mamasapano incident.
Present during the meeting were Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and PNP Officer-in-Charge Leonardo Espina.
According to Magalong, the President was hurt by the BOI findings.
“Visibly nasaktan siya. President siya. Nasaktan siya sa naging report, makikita naman yun. Pero even then during that time talagang very calm siya, talagang cordial at maayos naman ang aming discussion,” he said.
The BOI report earlier said the chain of command of the PNP was violated after the President, suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima and Special Action Force commander Getulio Napenas deliberately failed to inform the PNP OIC about the Mamasapano mission by keeping the information to themselves.
It also said the President “gave the go-signal and allowed the execution of Oplan: Exodus after the concept of operations was presented to him by…Napenas.”
It said the President allowed Purisima to participate in the planning and execution of Oplan Exodus despite the latter’s suspension.
It also said the President exercised his prerogative to deal directly with Napenas instead of Espina. The report said the act of dealing with Napenas instead of PNP OIC Espina “bypassed the established PNP Chain of Command.”
Magalong said the President explained that he gave instructions to Purisima to coordinate the Mamasapano mission with PNP OIC Espina. This order was not followed.
He said the President also admitted that he expected full cooperation between the SAF and military forces in Mamasapano, not knowing that Napenas did not follow his order.
Magalong described the meeting as “no holds barred,” with all contentious issues discussed.
“Sa mga contentious issues na nabanggit ng Presidente, binanggit ko rin kay Presidente na we never mentioned that you violated the Chain of Command. We just said that you exercised your prerogative to talk directly to Gen. Napenas. Andun sa conclusion namin. Kung anong conclusion namin is statement of fact. That is a statement of fact,” he said.
Magalong said Secretary Roxas also apologized for failing to inform the President about the BOI’s request to interview him regarding the Mamasapano mission.
“Binanggit din niya syempre yung issue na bakit hindi ko siya na-interview. At in-explain ko rin sa kanya na, inamin din naman ni Secretary [Roxas] na talagang sa dami ng trabaho nakalimutan na mabanggit kay Presidente at dapat na-remind ko sila,” he said.
The BOI chairman said he regrets failing to interview President Aquino before issuing the final BOI report.
However, he also admitted that the results of the BOI investigation will not be changed much.
For now, Magalong said he is focused on going back to work as CIDG chief after finishing what he describes as the hardest investigation in his career.
“I’m glad it’s over. It’s time to move on, there are so many thing need to be done,” he said.