Tears, honors for fallen SAF

MANILA, Philippines - At least one of the widows was pregnant. One of the bereaved was pushed on a wheelchair.

Police officers joined relatives of the Special Action Force (SAF) men slain in Maguindanao in weeping openly as the remains arrived at Villamor Air Base yesterday.

Coffins draped with the Philippine flag were unloaded in a long, slow procession out of military transport planes at the air base in Pasay City.

Marching to muted drums, uniformed policemen bore the numbered coffins brought home from Mamapasano town in Maguindanao, scene of the worst loss of life by the country’s police forces in recent memory.

Acting PNP chief Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina led the national police force in honoring each of the fallen policemen as relatives wept and hugged each other while a priest sprinkled holy water on the metal caskets.

Each coffin was laid in front of a large national flag at half-mast while the PNP band played “You raise me up,” adding more emotion to the already charged atmosphere.

Cabinet officials led by Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda and several lawmakers watched from the stands.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, former President Fidel Ramos and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos stayed in the gallery with the families and friends.

President Aquino has declared today a day of mourning for the 44 men slaughtered in a cornfield Sunday when their top-secret mission – to catch or kill one of the world’s most wanted terrorists – went horribly wrong.

But Aquino was absent at yesterday’s ceremony, attending another public event.

Presidential deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte denied suggestions that Aquino snubbed the dead, saying he was scheduled to attend the memorial services at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig today.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. explained it was not about the President choosing to attend the inauguration of the new Mitsubishi plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna over the arrival honors because he was set to lead the necrological services today, coinciding with the National Day of Mourning under Proclamation No. 953.

Asked why the President did not prioritize the arrival honors, Coloma said the President’s wholehearted sympathies for the victims and sadness over the incident had been expressed and should not be doubted, but the views of those criticizing him would be respected.

The memorial would be attended by members of the family of the slain policemen, members of the Cabinet and other government officials, as well as the officers and personnel of the PNP and their fellow PNP-SAF members, Coloma said.

“The entire nation is requested to offer prayers and all public institutions are directed to lower the Philippine flag in half-mast tomorrow,” Coloma added.

From Villamor Air Base, the bodies of the slain were taken to a funeral parlor where they were transferred to wooden caskets.

The PNP is holding a wake starting last night for the 42 fallen policemen at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig until today in time for the observance of the national day of mourning.

Two of the slain police officers have been buried by their Muslim kin.

Hurting

Espina himself was seen trying to hold back tears as he, along with his PNP command staff, stood at each casket.

“There is what we call human and divine justice. We are here to serve the human side of justice to our fallen colleagues. Let this be known to all, we will not rest until justice is served to our fallen colleagues,” one SAF officer said.

Some from the military went out to console their police counterparts. Some were also teary eyed as they watched the gloomy procession.

“Masakit sa dibdib (it hurts),” remarked a lady Air Force personnel while watching the priests sprinkle holy water on the metal caskets.

Another military officer, however, said they were expecting their Commander-in-Chief to show up.

He said they were expecting President Aquino to demand the Moro Islamic Liberation Front surrender their men involved in the carnage.

He said they were also expecting a statement from the President demanding the MILF to return the firearms and combat gear taken from the dead policemen.

“Until now, we are very disappointed with the President’s statement on the incident. We expect a strongly-worded pronouncement against the MILF from him but there was none,” the official said.

He added the MILF has been continuously fooling the government, this time by uploading photos of the firearms they seized from the SAF commandos.

Almost 400 police commandos had swooped down on barangay Tukanalipao before dawn to hunt down Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, a top suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings and one of the United States’ most wanted, with a $5-million bounty for his capture.

But after killing a person they thought to be Marwan, the SAF commandos came under devastating ambushes by separatist Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the MILF.

Aquino on Wednesday said most of the casualties were sustained after they ran into the MILF, which signed a peace treaty last year, and the BIFF allied with Islamic State fighters.

Police said Marwan was killed in the operation, although there has been no independent confirmation of his death. A second target, Abdul Basit Usman, escaped.

Lawmakers criticized the President for his statements regarding the killing of the 44 policemen.

Reps. Ashley Acedillo and Gary Alejano of the Magdalo party-list group, and Terry Ridon of Kabataan party-list said Aquino just “washed his hands of any liability” and raised more questions than answers in his televised speech.

Acedillo and Alejano cited Aquino’s statement pointing to the failure of the PNP-SAF to properly coordinate with the local military commander.

They said since the decision to undertake the operation did not come directly from either Roxas or Espina, “but was in fact coursed through the President on a regular basis, the link of command responsibility runs directly to and ends with him.”

“Truly, the buck must stop with the President… As Commander-in-Chief, President Aquino must share both in the successes and achievements of his troops, as well as with their failures and losses. Sadly, in Mamasapano, it is the latter that he must bear as well,” they said.

The two lawmakers said Aquino was also giving too much credit to the MILF for its “cooperation” in previous police and military operations as the rebel group has admitted responsibility for killing soldiers performing law enforcement functions in previous incidents.

Ridon, for his part, said President Aquino’s absence in the honor ceremonies “speaks volumes of his lack of basic respect for his servicemen.”

Sen. Francis Escudero said there was apparent “organizational dysfunction” within the police hierarchy that should be addressed to prevent operational lapses in the future.

He noted that some problems stemmed from having two perceived PNP chiefs, referring to suspended Director General Alan Purisima and Espina.

“The Philippine National Police is dysfunctional because the PNP chief has been suspended and an acting police chief is running the organization,” Escudero said.

Escudero made the statement in reaction to Aquino’s admission on Wednesday that he knew of the plans to go after Marwan.

Aquino also confirmed that Purisima had briefed him about the operations but parried questions if he gave the go signal.

On the issue of whether Roxas was left out of the loop by Purisima, Escudero said that he would be tackling the issue at the Senate hearing set on Feb. 4.

Escudero shared President Aquino’s view that the incident should not be a reason for the administration to stop its pursuit of peace in Mindanao.

To cement the peace, Aquino has urged wavering legislators to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law, a proposed law granting regional self-rule under the MILF in time for the elections in 2016.

But senators have warned the law is now unlikely to be passed by March as planned.

Teresita Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, told ABS-CBN Thursday that the BBL may face delays as “harder questions will be asked” in Congress, but stressed it was crucial for it to go through.

“If you stop it now, I am sure a few years later we will say, ‘We cannot live this perpetual terror... our children can’t go to school, no hospitals can be put up there’,” she added. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Aurea Calica, Delon Porcalla, Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez, Evelyn Macairan, Ding Cervantes, Rhodina Villanueva