The 1987 Constitution is explicit and categorical in providing that The President shall be the Commander in Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines (Section 18, Article VII, 1987 Constitution). The provision on the PNP is found in Section 6, Article XVI of the same Constitution: The State shall establish and maintain one police force which shall be national in scope and civilian in character, to be administered and controlled by a national police commission. The President is not mentioned as commander in chief thereof.

Being civilian in character, the PNP is not among the major services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the military arm of the government, which includes the Philippine Army, the Philippine Air Force and the Philippine Navy.

From the constitutional perspective, the PNP may rightly be described as an agency in the category of a bureau or office belonging to the executive department. It is simply an instrumentality of the executive power of the president who exercises control of all the executive departments, bureaus, and offices (Section 17, Article VII, 1987 Constitution). In actuality, when the president issues orders or directives to the PNP, he does not do so as commander in chief but as the executive exercising his control power alongside the power to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed.

It is clear then that as strictly designed by the 1987 Constitution, the president is the commander in chief of the AFP, not of the PNP.

Read more:http://opinion.inquirer.net/82769/aquino-not-pnp-commander-in-chief-under-1987-philippine-constitution#ixzz3SfdFuFY4Follow us:@inquirerdotnet on Twitter|inquirerdotnet on FacebookSenate President Franklin Drilon said on Monday President Benigno S. Aquino III cannot be criminally charged on the principle of command responsibility in the Mamasapano encounter that killed 44 Special Action Force (SAF) members of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

I do not agree that President Aquino has incurred any liability on the principle of command responsibility under international law, Drilon said.

Drilon made this reaction after Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago made a statement that the death of the 44 SAF men makes the military commander and other superior officials responsible for war crimes under the International Criminal Court (ICC) charter.

Under the Rome Statute, Drilon explained command responsibility will apply if the superior, knowing his subordinates will commit a crime, fails to stop the commission of the crime, or knowing that his subordinates committed a crime, fails to punish them.

In this particular case, the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police, per news report, was there to serve a warrant of arrest to known terrorists, not to commit any crime, so the principle of command responsibility does not apply, Drilon said.

The command responsibility has no application with President Aquino under the Rome Statute, he added.

The doctrine has been codified in the Rome Statute of the ICC to which the Philippines is signatory. Section 28 of the Statute imposes individual responsibility on military commanders for crimes committed by forces under their control.

According to the doctrine of command responsibility, a superior may be held criminally responsible for a crime committed by his subordinates if it is proven that despite his awareness of the crimes of subordinates, he fails to fulfill his duties to prevent and punish these crimes.

To hold a person criminally responsible under the doctrine, these three requirements must be proven:

(i) A relationship of superior-subordinate linking the accused and those who committed the underlying offenses at the time of the commission of the crime;

(ii) The knowledge on the part of the superior that his subordinates have committed or taken a culpable part in the commission of a crime or are about to do so; and,

(iii) A failure on the part of the superior to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent (duty to prevent) or to punish those crimes (duty to punish).MANILA, Philippines - Command responsibility does not apply, and President Aquino cannot be tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a police operation that led to the deaths of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos in Maguindanao, Malacaang said yesterday. The Palace was reacting to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiagos pronouncement last Monday that on the basis of command responsibility, Aquino may be made to face the ICC for the SAF operation in Mamasapano town that went awry.

Regarding that comment, we agree with Senate President Franklin Drilons statement, Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said, referring to the senators assertion made before reporters Monday that command responsibility does not apply in the Mamasapano incident because arresting a fugitive is not a crime.

Under the Rome Statute, command responsibility will apply if the superior, knowing his subordinates will commit a crime, fails to stop the commission of the crime, or knowing that his subordinates committed a crime, fails to punish them, Coloma said, quoting Drilons remarks to reporters.

Its very clear that the SAF launched the operation not to commit a crime but to enforce the law, Coloma, chief of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, said in Filipino.

He declined to comment on some lawmakers statements that President Aquino may be summoned by investigating bodies to shed light on the SAF operation.

I havent directly asked the President about it. Right from the very beginning, the President has been sharing what he knows about the incident, Coloma said.

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Fighting erupted before dawn on Jan. 25 when SAF commandos leaving Mamasapano after killing a man believed to be Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, encountered fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). The MILF dismissed the 10-hour clashes as a misencounter.

Aquino admitted prior knowledge of the manhunt, but said the SAF chief had observed very minimum compliance with his directive for proper coordination.

He said suspended PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima had coordinated with him on the operation, but only before the police chiefs suspension last December.

Taking a cue from Santiago, human rights groups and peoples organizations are preparing to file a complaint against Aquino before the International Peoples Tribunal for the Mamasapano incident and other alleged human rights violations under his administration.

This was according to Elmer Labog, chairman of the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS-Phils).

He said the President should be made to answer for the Mamasapano tragedy before a court of unquestionable integrity.

Labog said the International Peoples Tribunal is set to convene in Washington in July.

He said details have not yet been announced but several victims of militarization, peoples organizations and rights advocates have expressed interest in filing criminal cases against Aquino.

President Aquino should be made answerable for these deaths and renewed violence not only on combatants but to innocent children as well, Labog added.

He said Aquino intentionally did not coordinate with the MILF, despite mechanisms in place to avoid hostilities such as the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) and the International Monitoring Team (IMT).

Aquino willfully did not coordinate with the military under his command and even his own Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who heads the police force, Labog said.

Relieved SAF chief Police Director Getulio Napeas became the unfortunate fall-guy and took all the blame, he pointed out.

Broken chain of commandAs commander-in-chief, Aquino broke the chain of command in his handling of the SAF operation targeting Marwan and local cohort Basit Usman, former President Fidel Ramos said yesterday.

He said the President should accept responsibility for the covert operation that triggered clashes with the MILF that left dozens of people dead, including 44 SAF commandos and 18 on the MILF side.

Ramos, who founded the SAF when he was constabulary chief during the Marcos regime, said that while there was nothing wrong with Aquino giving the suspended Purisima the task of leading the operation, he should have at least notified PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director Leonardo Espina and Armed Forces chief Gen. Pio Catapang to keep the chain of command intact.

As commander-in-chief, not as President, yes, he broke the chain of command. He communicated with people not in the chain of command. As commander-in-chief, the secretaries of the departments are your alter egos but they are not in the chain of command, Ramos told ANC News.

It (chain of command) is from him, chief of staff of the Armed Forces and then here the PNP... the two must be together in an operation as big as this one and they are joined together at one point, at the top, the commander-in-chief. There is a lapse there at the very top, he said.

Asked if the President can be held liable for breaking the chain of command, Ramos said: Yes, in the sense that no one else could do the things that he is empowered to do under our Constitution.

He said liability cannot be passed on to a lower official or officer.

As commander-in-chief, Aquino must answer for that lapse in the loop of the chain of command, Ramos said.

He also urged Aquino to support the formation of a truth commission so there would be just one independent body to conduct an investigation into the incident.

Ramos also said critics should stop linking the US to the failed operation. He said the US government has been assisting the country in its efforts to weed out terrorism.

Roxas puzzleMeanwhile, a former military intelligence officer who declined to be named said it was impossible for Roxas not to have learned about the operation targeting Marwan and Usman given the length of time the government had planned it.

The former intelligence official, who had spearheaded various intelligence operations to arrest terror suspects and leaders of rebel groups, said there are clear and established procedures in hunting high-value targets. Such procedures involve the president and the Cabinet secretary involved, in this case, Roxas.

Malacaang and officials of the PNP earlier admitted that Oplan Wolverine to arrest Usman and Marwan, who carries a $5-million bounty on his head, took several months to at least two years to plan.

In Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, the police chief had his head shaved as demonstration of respect, sympathy and call for truth and justice for the _#_Fallen44.

To my underclassmen, fellow PNP SAF commando and fellow law enforcers who made the greatest sacrifice so that others might live in peace, please accept my simple act of respect, sympathy and call for truth and justice to your deaths, Chief Inspector Ryan Manongdo, also a member of SAF, posted on his Facebook account. He also posted a photo of himself with his new look.

Chief Inspector Rex Infante, Mangatarem police chief, also had his head shaved, along with his men.

Rest in peace and may God bless the nation you fought for, Manongdo said in his FB post.

Manongdo was class president of Philippine National Police Academy Marangal 2005.

It was a simple act of showing we really feel what they are feeling right now, he told Bombo Radyo Dagupan.

In Mangatarem Municipal Police Station, some police members also had their heads shaved to show sympathy for their fallen comrades.

We unite to improve our services, not only in expressing our sympathies and we are inspired by the heroism made by the SAF members, Infante said.

Two of the 44 Fallen SAF members were from Pangasinan, namely Police Officers 2 Ephraim Mejia of San Nicolas and Romeo Senin II of San Fabian town.Paolo Romero, Eva Visperas, Mayen Jaymalin