Category: Peace and Order

A week after he floated an “alternative version” to the killing of Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli “Marwan”bin Hir last January which also cost the lives of 63 people, 44 of them members of the elite Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police, President Aquino yesterday belied it saying it was “baseless.”

In a televised presentation, Aquino said: “It is clear from the presentation today: the SAF were there; we can no longer doubt that it was the SAF who took Marwan’s finger. This also means: All the other accounts about the alternative narrative are baseless, and consequently have no relevance.”

But it was he who floated what he now says are “baseless” alternative narrative.
He did it during a meeting with Inquirer editors and reporters last week.

Inquirer quoted him as saying,” Do I have closure? I still have quite a number of questions, and there are various agencies of government tasked to ferret out the truth of exactly what happened in its entirety. There is an alternative version of events that happened there, which is undergoing very intense scrutiny.”

This was his reply when asked if he had closure on the Mamasapano tragedy, that defined the incompetence and immaturity of his presidency together with the 2010 Rizal Park hostage-taking.

In his presentation yesterday, perhaps to justify his 360- degree turn, Aquino explained, “When the idea of an alternative narrative was presented to us and when we returned to the evidence, we could not dismiss it outright. This alternative version is the complete opposite of the first account of the encounter. It is our responsibility to investigate and to uncover the complete truth, so that the conclusions we arrive at will be correct and just. In doing this, we will ensure that this tragedy does not happen again. That is why we immediately ordered the various agencies of government to scrutinize other angles that present alternative narratives.”

Reliable sources said there was no serious re-investigation of the tragedy.
What happened, they said, was Aquino could not get over the findings of the PNP Board of Inquiry headed by Police Director Benjamin Magalong and the Senate Commmitee on Public Order headed by Se. Grace Poe that put the blame on him for breaking the chain- of- command and taking a direct hand in the operation through his best friend, suspended Police Chief Alan Purisima.

Many times, the source said, in the middle of a discussion the President would blurt out something about being informed of the Marwan operation almost midnight.

“He needed something to alleviate his guilt and to salve his conscience,” the source said.

He had tried to run away from it in various occasions like going to a car plant inauguration instead of attending the arrival honors at the Villamor Air base for the slain SAF troopers and deleting the names of the two SAF members from the list of those that would be honored last PNP Day.

In his last State-of-the –Nation Address, he cited as accomplishment the killing of Marwan but did not give credit to SAF.

His “alternative truth”, however, backfired and rekindled animosity towards him by those who sympathized with the SAF.

The source said all the officials of agencies Aquino consulted to try to come out with a version that would downgrade the role of SAF advised him against it and warned him of its implications in the 2016 elections.

Magalong told lawmakers during a budget hearing that he was willing to resign if it’s proven that he was wrong in concluding that Marwan was killed by SAF troopers.

Told yesterday of the President’s about-face statement, Magalong said, “Hindi na pala ako magre-resign (So I don’t need to resign).”

A week after he floated an “alternative version” to the killing of Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli “Marwan”bin Hir last January which also cost the lives of 63 people, 44 of them members of the elite Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police, President Aquino yesterday belied it saying it was “baseless.”

In a televised presentation, Aquino said: “It is clear from the presentation today: the SAF were there; we can no longer doubt that it was the SAF who took Marwan’s finger. This also means: All the other accounts about the alternative narrative are baseless, and consequently have no relevance.”

But it was he who floated what he now says are “baseless” alternative narrative.
He did it during a meeting with Inquirer editors and reporters last week.

Inquirer quoted him as saying,” Do I have closure? I still have quite a number of questions, and there are various agencies of government tasked to ferret out the truth of exactly what happened in its entirety. There is an alternative version of events that happened there, which is undergoing very intense scrutiny.”

This was his reply when asked if he had closure on the Mamasapano tragedy, that defined the incompetence and immaturity of his presidency together with the 2010 Rizal Park hostage-taking.

In his presentation yesterday, perhaps to justify his 360- degree turn, Aquino explained, “When the idea of an alternative narrative was presented to us and when we returned to the evidence, we could not dismiss it outright. This alternative version is the complete opposite of the first account of the encounter. It is our responsibility to investigate and to uncover the complete truth, so that the conclusions we arrive at will be correct and just. In doing this, we will ensure that this tragedy does not happen again. That is why we immediately ordered the various agencies of government to scrutinize other angles that present alternative narratives.”

Reliable sources said there was no serious re-investigation of the tragedy.
What happened, they said, was Aquino could not get over the findings of the PNP Board of Inquiry headed by Police Director Benjamin Magalong and the Senate Commmitee on Public Order headed by Se. Grace Poe that put the blame on him for breaking the chain- of- command and taking a direct hand in the operation through his best friend, suspended Police Chief Alan Purisima.

Many times, the source said, in the middle of a discussion the President would blurt out something about being informed of the Marwan operation almost midnight.

“He needed something to alleviate his guilt and to salve his conscience,” the source said.

He had tried to run away from it in various occasions like going to a car plant inauguration instead of attending the arrival honors at the Villamor Air base for the slain SAF troopers and deleting the names of the two SAF members from the list of those that would be honored last PNP Day.

In his last State-of-the –Nation Address, he cited as accomplishment the killing of Marwan but did not give credit to SAF.

His “alternative truth”, however, backfired and rekindled animosity towards him by those who sympathized with the SAF.

The source said all the officials of agencies Aquino consulted to try to come out with a version that would downgrade the role of SAF advised him against it and warned him of its implications in the 2016 elections.

Magalong told lawmakers during a budget hearing that he was willing to resign if it’s proven that he was wrong in concluding that Marwan was killed by SAF troopers.

Told yesterday of the President’s about-face statement, Magalong said, “Hindi na pala ako magre-resign (So I don’t need to resign).”

With President Aquino, what you see is what you get.

He is not good at masking his lack of concern and sympathy for the everyday problems of Filipinos. Like when Tacloban businessman Kenneth Yu Uy complained to him during in his post-Yolanda visit to Tacloban in November 2013 about the peace and order breakdown in the typhoon-devastated province and he snapped at him “Eh buhay ka pa naman, di ba?” (Uy died last week of a heart attack.)

He is honest. He is no hypocrite.

That’s why Malacañang and Philippine National Police officials should stop making excuses about the deletion of the names two of the 44 members of the Special Action Force who died in the Mamasapano tragedy last January to capture two terrorists in the Wanted List of the United States.

That’s what their superior wanted. The President gets what he wants.

Inquirer reported that the PNP memorandum of the “Result of the Selection of Awardees” included the names of PO2 Romeo Cempron and Police Supt. Raymundo Train. In fact the widow of Cempron was informed by SAF to prepare for the awarding during the PNP 114the anniversary Aug. 7.

She was told that the award will be given by the President himself.

In Malacañang’s advisory on the PNP awarding ceremonies, the names of Cempron and Train were not included.
Inquirer reported that there was a verbal instruction from the Presidential Management Staff to the PNP “to remove the name of the Mamasapano awardees from the program.”

Reason: “The President did not want to bring back the memories of the Mamasapano encounter.”

Believable. In his sixth and last State-of-the-Nation Address. He boasted about the capture of “international terrorist Marwan” but made no mention about the SAF 44 who died in that operation.

He paid tribute to everybody including Paul Cabral, his dress designer and Cherry Reyes but no mention of the SAF44.

Coloma denied that Malacañang had anything to do with the removal of the names of the two SAF officers from the list of awardees on PNP Day. He said the President has always recognized what they (SAF44) what they had done for the country. Really? When?

He didn’t feel like honoring them with his presence when their bodies in coffins arrived in Villamor Air base, he opted to go view a showcase of cars during a Mitsubishi Motors plant inauguration.

When he finally met with the SAF late in the evening, he told Po2 Christopher Lalan , the lone survivor in the massacre, that he would have to turn him over to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who alleged that the police officer from Kalinga killed civilians who were praying.

Lalan told Aquino that he would not allow himself to be turned over to the MILF. He would rather go back to his tribe and dared anybody to get him there.

That’s the reason why when he talked to SAF and asked them if there’s anything they want to tell him, he was given the silent treatment.

The PNP gave all sorts of reasons for the deletion of the names of Cempron and Train. One said “the review” was not completed. Another said last week’s awards were for acts done last year and the Mamasapano operation happened last January.

They should stop. SAF44 will always be a reminder of one of the ignominious moments of the Aquino presidency and it is understandable that he does not want to be reminded of it.The people accept the President for what he is. Besides it’s only nine months to go.

We could not say it better than what former member of the military Dencio Acop posted in Facebook:

“This inept administration can say all it wants. It is, after all, self-serving. But there are those of us who do not buy your crap even if you are so full of it up to your eyeballs. This latest insult to the man in uniform only manages to further add salt to an unhealed wound.

“ If 44 men who paid the ultimate sacrifice for a mission personally sanctioned by a cowardly and emotionally devoid commander-in-chief do not deserve recognition, then I do not know who or what does!

“But I do know one thing. This president is no leader. He neither has the track record of having served in uniform nor does he care to do the only thing that one who hasn’t served can do: honor those who have and their selfless deeds in favor of us all. And I do not have any ounce of respect for all the self-serving lesser public officials, in uniform or civilian, who let this insult after insult of the man in uniform happen. God help this long-suffering country of ours from the greatest threat to its national security — its leaders especially BS Aquino.”