President Benigno Simeon (BS) Aquino and his allies would like the
Filipino people to move on from the January 25 massacre of 44 Special
Action Force (SAF) commandos by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) in Mamasapano. In particular, Senator Franklin Drilon
doesn’t think “there is anything more to explain”. Senator Chiz Escudero
for his part says he doesn’t think the President is liable for the
deaths of the SAFs. It is worth mentioning that BS Aquino was the best
man in Escudero’s recent nuptials to actress Heart Evangelista.
Meanwhile, Drilon has been a staunch Aquino supporter dating back to the
Cory days.
President BS Aquino should practice what he preaches and move on from his habit of looking back to his parents’ suffering.
It’s
not surprising they would say that. There’s nothing they would rather
see more than Filipinos moving on to the usual mundane issues because BS
Aquino’s popularity is suffering from a barrage of criticism no matter
what he does to try and redeem himself from what the public perceives as
whitewashing and betrayal of public trust regarding the Mamasapano
clash.
It’s actually quite hypocritical of President BS Aquino and his
allies to expect the public to get over it considering Aquino ascended
to power by blaming previous presidents. In fact, he takes every
opportunity to bore the public with narrations of his father’s death and
how his family “suffered” under the Martial Law years every chance he
gets.
Calls for BS Aquino’s resignation or ouster are steadily growing.
What was supposed to be a secret operation — so secret that even
Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas was not
aware of it — has taken on a new life. It is something that the
Malacanang propaganda machine cannot control anymore. Their attempt to
distract the public with the resumption of Senate hearings against Vice
President Jejomar Binay’s allegedly overpriced building hasn’t worked to
divert people’s attention away from the issue and neither did the
arrest of Makati Mayor Junjun Binay and his forced appearance in the
Senate hearings make a difference to the growing public outrage. It is
worth mentioning that despite the number of months the Senate has
devoted to the investigation against the Binays, the senators from the
Opposition are not ready to say, “there is nothing more to explain”. But
I digress…
BS Aquino and his allies have been trying to downplay what happened
between the SAF and the MILF at Mamasapano since Day One. The public has
heard some of the lamest excuses from not only those involved in the
operation, but also from BS Aquino’s cabinet members who try to save the
President from any liability during the tragic event. Here are some of
them:
1. Simply a misencounter
After news broke out about the deaths of the 44 SAFs, DILG Secretary
Mar Roxas quickly described what had happened as a “misencounter”.
Political pundits and netizens alike were quick to look up the meaning
of the word but found to their dismay that the word doesn’t exist in the
English vocabulary. That set off the alarm bells to what the public
thinks was the initial whitewashing. For someone who claims to not have
known about the operation, Roxas didn’t have a basis for saying it was
simply a “misencounter”.
Will BS Aquino’s endorsement in 2016 make up for Mar’s being left out of the loop?
Frankly,
for someone who was kept out of the loop of a major operation, Roxas is
acting strangely forgiving and seems to have moved on very quickly.
Some expected him to resign from his post as a statement of indignation.
Perhaps it was a matter between “friends” after all and nothing that an
endorsement from BS Aquino as the Liberal Party’s candidate for the
Presidential Election in 2016 cannot fix. So it seems Roxas was happy
enough to treat it as water under the bridge.
2. It was merely an “advice” not an “order”.
Former PNP Chief Alan Purisima was the next one to engage in word
play. Despite confirming through a text message to sacked PNP-SAF head
Director Getulio Napeñas Jr that the “plan is a go on the timeline, Jan.
23 to 26″, he denies giving the order for the operation to arrest
international bombmaker Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and his Filipino protégé Abdul Basit Usman insisting that what he gave was just an “advice”.
Suspended PNP Chief Alan Purisima: Feeder of lies?
Whoever
gave him the advice to use that advice defense probably thought
everyone would be stupid enough to buy it. The public will have to give
him credit for trying though. The operation was supposed to be his
ticket to redemption after his suspension for corruption charges. Had
the operation been 100 percent successful with zero casualties from the
government troops, he would have been proud to say he was in charge of
the operation and that he had ordered the go ahead. It is hard to take
credit when things turn out bad.
3. The chain of command does not apply to the Philippine National Police.
Moving on from word play, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima tried
confusing the public with jargon. Her move left some people speechless.
How can any organization, whether private or public, military or
civilian function without following a chain of command? If we follow De
Lima’s logic, it’s a miracle lower ranking police officers haven’t
conducted their own covert operation considering they do not have to
answer to anyone at the top. This attempt to rescue BS Aquino from any
liability for the deaths of the 44 SAF troopers is so lame. It ranks
right up there with the classic “my dog ate my homework” excuse.
Justice Secretary Leila De Lima does not believe in command responsibility.
De Lima should resign from her post for shamelessly being ignorant of EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 226 that states:
SECTION 1. Neglect of Duty Under the Doctrine of “Command Responsibility”. Any government official or supervisor, or officer of the Philippine National Police or that of any other law enforcement agency shall be held accountable for “Neglect of Duty” under the doctrine of “command responsibility” if he has knowledge that a crime or offense shall be committed, is being committed, or has been committed by his subordinates, or by others within his area of responsibility and, despite such knowledge, he did not take preventive or corrective action either before, during, or immediately after its commission.
I would have recommended her to be sacked for deliberate cover-up but
she was trying to protect the very person who could fire her.
4. It was self-defence.
That was the excuse chairman of the peace-negotiating panel of the
MILF, Mohagher Iqbal used to justify the execution style killing of the
SAF. 27 of the 44 fallen troopers were shot in the head at close range
with one commando shot 14 times. If that is their style of
“self-defence”, I am curious to know how they kill their enemies during
an “official” combat. ISIS-style killing comes to mind.
Sincerity in question: Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal
Iqbal
has done well in his efforts to humanize the animal-like behavior of
the MILF rebel forces. He even attracted kudos from a bleeding heart
columnist who praised him for being “a picture of wisdom, restraint,
dignity and depth” during the Senate hearings. It’s quite funny to read
such compliments from an academic like Randy David even when there was
no assurance from Iqbal that they will surrender the killers to the
Philippine government so they can face the justice system. One can’t
help but question if people like David has the country’s best interest
at heart.
To further fuel the speculation that the MILF is just Malaysia’s
front in the latter’s quest to colonize Mindanao, Iqbal confirmed that
the MILF report on the Mamasapano clash will not be given directly to
the Philippine government. He said it would have to pass through
Malaysia first since they are the third party facilitator in the peace
negotiations. His statement is so reassuring that the Filipino people
will get the unedited version after Malaysia sifts through the report.
Not.
5. SAF should be held accountable.
Presidential Peace Advisor Teresita Deles: Whose side is she on?
That
was the recommendation of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Secretary Teresita Deles. According to her, the PNP-SAF should be
accountable for the massacre of the 44 SAF troopers for storming the
rebel lair. She was sticking by the notion that they should have
coordinated the operation using the “ceasefire mechanism”. For an
academic, Deles seems clueless. Either that or she is deliberately
ignoring the fact that BS Aquino knew about the operation but didn’t
bother to tell her. If she wants to blame it on someone just to protect
the MILF from liability and save the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, she
should blame BS Aquino for authorizing the Mamasapano operation and
putting a suspended PNP Chief in charge of it.
The people are getting confused over why a government official like
Deles would even say government troops should not have gone into certain
areas of Mindanao to conduct an official operation. In the words of
Iqbal, the MILF will remain a revolutionary organization unless the BBL
is implemented.
6. I was fed lies.
The ever-changing statements from BS Aquino came down to a simple “I
was fed lies”. After his recent meeting with some lawmakers, the
President managed to convince them that he was given inaccurate
information during the Mamasapano clash and that his order to coordinate
the operation to get Marwan with the military was “disregarded”. That
is what you call a convenient excuse. We just have to ask: how come BS
Aquino never said these things during his press conferences?
Now that Purisima has resigned, President BS Aquino is now free to call him a liar.
If
it is true that the President was fed lies or given inaccurate
information by then suspended PNP Chief Purisima, who was his first
point of contact and who was overseeing the operation, and why didn’t he
fire that person immediately? BS Aquino was even sad to accept
Purisima’s resignation after the public uproar. No, BS Aquino’s excuse
just doesn’t make any sense.
Recall the first time he addressed the nation about the Mamasapano
clash, he said to a reporter, he didn’t think he was ever asked the
question, “Sir, can we have the go-signal?” All the while his buddy
Purisima met with him weeks prior to the operation and was updating him
about the Mamasapano clash as early as 5 a.m.
Now BS Aquino would like us all to believe that had Purisima given him accurate
information, he would have done everything to save the lives of the
fallen SAFs. In this particular case, BS is indeed short for bullshit.
The public should not move on from this issue until President BS Aquino
owns up and tells the truth.
[Article thumbnail photo courtesy Inquirer.net.]
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