Resigned Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima invoked executive privilege as congressmen pressed him to reveal details of his conversations with President Aquino on the Mamasapano operation.
Purisima insisted he cannot tell the congressional inquiry what the President had told him regarding the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force operation to get Malaysian bomb-maker Zulkifli bin hir, alias Marwan.
When asked if he can reveal the details of his conversations with the President in an executive session, Purisima said that he cannot do that and again cited executive privilege.
Before that, South Cotabato Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez, said that the supposed “advice” of Purisima to Special Action Forces (SAF) chief Getulio Napenas not to inform Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina, was in fact an order.
He said there’s no such thing as an “advice” given the situation where Purisma is directly conferring with the President regarding the plan to hunt down Marwan.
“You’re too polite to say that it’s just a judgment call,” he told SAF chief Napenas.
Asked if based on what he had observed regarding Purisima’s meetings with the President, if he believed that the order had the blessing (basbas) of the President, Napenas said yes. (Eagle News Service)