Negros Occidental Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer, chairman of the House Committee on Peace and Order, and Public Safety, said yesterday that he believes that President Benigno Aquino III is liable for the botched Mamasapano incident, that claimed the lives of 44 Special Action Force police commandos, and 23 others, who include Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters and civilians.

By giving a go signal to a project, you are responsible, Ferrer, who rated 75 percent the credibility of PNP Board of Inquiry and Senate reports on the Mamasapano incident, said.

The BOI, in its report, said, "The chain of command in the PNP was violated. The President, the suspended CPNP (Chief, PNP Alan) Purisima and the former Director SAF (Getulio) Napeñas kept the information to themselves and deliberately failed to inform the OIC (Officer-In-Charge Leonardo) Espina and the SILG (Secretary of Interior and Local Government) Mar Roxas.”

The Senate report also said that the President has been found ultimately responsible: for the Mamasapano tragedy, which was already signed by 20 senators, including his allies.

But as to the violation of the President, Ferrer, who presided over the recent congressional inquiry on the Mamasapano incident, said it should be discussed first.

The leadership of the House of Representatives has agreed on Wednesday night to hold another hearing of the incident on April 7 and 8.

Ferrer, however, said he will hold a separate meeting today with majority of the members of the House to recommend a caucus first before continuing the inquiry.

The BOI report has been submitted to 85 members of the two House committees- Peace and Order,Unity and Peace Reconciliation- for review and further study, he said.

After the inquiry, Ferrer said the House will come up with its own report and recommendation, submit them to the plenary for discussion and amendments if any, before approving it.

That disruption in the chain of command was seen by BOI and Senate probers , that is also being blamed for the tragic failure in coordination between the military and the police, and had left the SAF teams without artillery cover as they were exiting the area where they had shot dead Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan. * GPB

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