Maguindanao massacre 2

Yet, when the bodies of the 42 slain SAF men were flown in yesterday at Villamor Airbase, the Commander-in-chief and “father of the country” did not show up. He went to inaugurate a car plant in Laguna.

As earlier declared by President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III, we are today observing the National Day of Mourning for the 44 slain officers and personnel of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) killed in action while trying to serve a warrant of arrest against Zulkifli bin Abdul Hir, alias Marwan, one of the most wanted international terrorists. In the eight-paragraph Proclamation 953, President Aquino said “these deaths are a great loss to our people and during this time of grief, a most solemn commemoration and respect is called for.”

The President urged in the same proclamation for the entire nation “to offer prayers for the eternal repose of the souls of the victims and for our people to reclaim our sense of humanity.” Since this is a National Day of Mourning, the President ordered every Philippine flag be lowered to half-mast in all public institutions and military installations throughout the country.

This very unfortunate incident puts pressure on ongoing negotiations of the government for a permanent peace pact alongside a ceasefire agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation (MILF). In fact, the government panel has arrived by this time in Kuala Lumpur to sign today with their MILF counterparts the agreement on demobilization (decommissioning) of rebel weapons.

This pact on demobilization is the last component of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) that the government forged with the MILF in March 2013. The implementing part of this CAB is the passage into law of the Bangsamoro Basic Law now undergoing public hearings at the 16th Congress.

So this firefight that took place in Mamasapano, a known stronghold of the MILF in Maguindanao, had us groping for answers why such thing should happen when supposedly we are having these peace talks.  

I’ve held my peace and waited for P-Noy for an official account of what happened. In sward speak: “Anyare?” All the Palace came up with the day after the incident was a presidential statement on his directive for an investigation.

The President finally did break his silence three days later. In a televised address before the nation last Wednesday night from Malacañang Palace, President Aquino instead disappointed many who waited to listen to what he had to say.

 Speaking in Tagalog, President Aquino reported what he knew about the incident in Mamasapano, which he said happened last Saturday and Sunday. “I do this not because I wish to preempt the board of inquiry tasked to uncover the entire truth, but because you have a right to know what we know at this point,” the President told the nation.

Wasn’t it the President who flew all the way to Zamboanga City last Sunday? – two days after a car bomb exploded in Barangay Guiwan and killed on the spot one person, wounding 54 others, one of whom later succumbed to injuries.

Unusual but P-Noy flew there even if it was the 82nd birth anniversary of his late mother, ex-President Corazon Aquino. He left to his four sisters to attend their traditional family gathering at the gravesite of their late parents at Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City.

While the President turned unusually quiet, the post-operation details of the SAF raid against Marwan started leaking to the media. An unnamed police general revealed no less than President Aquino and his most trusted PNP chief, suspended PNP director-general Alan Purisima were allegedly directing the whole SAF operations to capture Marwan. The unnamed PNP official explained this was why the President was in Zamboanga so he would be nearby to immediately fly to Maguindanao for the presentation of the captured Marwan if the SAF operation succeeds.  

Marwan, identified with the Indonesia-based Muslim extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), is among the international terrorists in the most wanted list of the US with a $5-million bounty over his head. He is the principal suspect in a number of deadly bombings that took place in Central Mindanao.

The President noted Marwan and a Filipino Muslim terrorist leader Abdulbasit Usman are not just common criminals but both have a long string of outstanding warrants for their arrest. According to him, there are no less than eight outstanding warrants against Usman alone while Marwan faced no less than two.

Providing the timeline before this SAF incident, the President said one of the earliest warrants issued was in 2002 when he was still a congressman from Tarlac. So that long ago, he stressed, government operatives have been in hot pursuit of Marwan and Usman. Is P-Noy again pointing the blame to the previous administration’s failure to capture Marwan?

“These agencies are not always required to obtain my approval for each and every one of their operations, because it would be impractical for them to wait for my clearance before proceeding,” the President pointed out. He was obviously trying to dispel rumors that he was directing, along with the suspended PNP chief, the whole SAF operations against Marwan.

But the President went on to stress: “In the briefings the PNP gave me about the continuing operations against Marwan and Usman, I repeated countless times the need for proper, sufficient, and timely coordination.”

Is he or is he not the one who green-lighted this bloody SAF operation against Marwan? The President hemmed and hawed when pressed in the question-and-answer with Palace reporters that followed his prepared address.

Bachelor P-Noy initially touched the hearts of the people when he started his address saying: “As President and as father of this country, I am greatly saddened that our policemen had to lay down their lives for this mission.”

Yet, when the bodies of the 42 slain SAF men were flown in yesterday at Villamor Airbase, the Commander-in-chief and “father of the country” did not show up. He went to inaugurate a car plant in Laguna.

Ironic though, President Aquino mentioned in his address allegations that Marwan, along with Umbra Kato, led a plot to plant a bomb to assassinate then-governor of Maguindanao, Andal Ampatuan in 2006. Ex-Gov. Ampatuan would later be accused as the brains behind the killing of 58 people, including 34 local journalists in the infamous Maguindanao massacre in November 2009.

Now we have Maguindanao massacre-part two, P-Noy term.