SUSPENDED Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima tendered his resignation and President Benigno Simeon Aquino III accepted “with much equivocation,” an MST Palace source said on Thursday.
News of Purisima’s resignation broke early Thursday evening, but Palace spokesman Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. could not confirm the report because he had no information about the resignation which Aquino supposedly announced in a Cabinet meeting.
Purisima himself could not be reached for verification, but his lawyer Kristoffer James Purisima posted on Twitter: “As far as I know, Police Director General Alan La Madrid Purisima has not tendered any resignation.”
Even acting Philippine National Police chief Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina said “I have no confirmation on that” although the report quickly went viral on the Internet with several government officials expressing relief that Purisima chose to go.
However, a Palace source said Aquino did announce Purisima’s resignation at a Palace meeting with Cabinet secretaries who said the acceptance of Purisima’s resignation was an attempt to “mollify” Roxas who was supposedly set to resign.
“The President learned about Mar’s plan to resign should he not sack Purisima and Ochoa,” the source said. “It left the President no choice, but to ask Purisima to go.”
“The President did not want to fire Purisima so he asked him to resign instead,” the source added.
The source said Roxas’ advisers, including former defense secretary and well-known lawyer Avelino Cruz, asked him to resign after Aquino did not act on Roxas’ demand that he fire Purisima, who was allegedly in command of the botched Mamasapano debacle although he was suspended.
In radio interviews earlier Thursday, Roxas denied reports that he stormed into Malacañang to demand that Aquino fire Purisima in an emergency meeting sought by Roxas himself on February 3, but was turned down.
“The incident where I supposedly barged into a meeting of President Aquino and [Finance] Secretary Cesar Purisima at the Palace did not happen,” Roxas said. (Detals C/O MST)