The anger of the nation continues to spread like wildfire throughout the entire country not because 44 elite Special Action Force (SAF) soldiers are dead, but because the truth has started to unravel about Oplan Wolverine. It now turns out that Pres. Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III lied to the nation in his speech three days after the massacre. The President said that relieved former Philippine National Police (PNP) Alan Purisima had no knowledge of this mission… and that the last time he talked with his man was when he was still PNP Chief. How could you lie to the nation Mr. President at a time of national mourning?
Now the truth has surfaced (even before a board of inquiry was created) that Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas and PNP Chief Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina openly admitted that they had no prior knowledge of this huge operation supposedly to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Abdul bin Hir a.k.a. “Marwan” and his Filipino sidekick Abdul Basit Usman who have a $7 million price on their heads. So was this mission really led by the relieved Alan Purisima? Pray tell us the truth Mr. President!
If the anger of the nation continues, it is fueled not only because the SAF soldiers were sent to an area to die…but because Pres. Aquino didn’t even have the guts to meet the dead bodies at the Villamor Airbase for that solemn arrival ceremonies. He just couldn’t or wouldn’t cancel the blessing of that new plant of Mitsubishi in Laguna, a very minor occasion where he can send his Secretary for Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
What has angered the Filipino people was that it had to take three long days for the President to come up with a very long speech giving us the history of terrorism in troubled Mindanao and all the way to how Operation Wolverine was handled or should I say mishandled. Only then did the President called for a National Day of Mourning. Why did it take this long?
Contrast this to his hated predecessor then Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who after learning of the massacre in Maguindanao immediately went on national television and declared that the perpetrators would be punished, then upon the recommendation of Defense Secretary Bert Gonzales, called for Martial Law in Maguindanao and sent the troops to the Ampatuan stronghold and raided his palaces. Incidentally, the Ampatuans gained their political foothold of the area thanks to the Aquino family.
We also learned that the President was late for the blessing of the Mitsubishi plant… he was a no-show in Villamor and he was also very late in going to Camp Bagong Diwa, wherein the necrological ceremonies had to be stopped. The hastag NasaanAngPangulo has gone viral on social networks.
How unlucky we Filipinos are to have a President under Pres. PNoy. He came from obscurity as a non-performing Congressman and Senator, but launched his Presidency because of the funeral of his mother the late Pres. Corazon C. Aquino. When his Presidency began, suddenly eight Hong Kong Tourists were killed by the hands of a deranged but be-medalled Police Officer in what the whole world says was a botched police operation to neutralize a single hostage taker.
Now towards the end of his Presidency we end up seeing another funeral, thanks to another botch police mission, which was started in total secrecy and kept even from the eyes of PNP Chief Espina and DILG Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas and from the grieving families of the dead SAF soldiers.
I’m making this column while watching the event in Camp Bagong Diwa where the President literally forced himself to view each fallen soldier and prayed (hopefully he prayed) in front of the coffin. I was in tears watching the highly-emotionally charged ANC nationwide coverage, but we saw that Pres. PNoy shed no tears for the fallen soldiers he sent to die!
Surely this emotionally draining scene should be more than enough for the President to come out with the truth… as to who really ordered Oplan Wolverine and the extent of that operation. Apparently we learned that there were more than 392 SAF well-armed men that were sent to Mamapanso, Maguindanao. Police Director Getulio Napeñas admitted last Tuesday that he did not coordinate with the military for this botch operation.
I just got a text message sent to me by Archbishop Romulo dela Cruz of Zamboanga City who before his new assignment to Zamboanga was for seven years Bishop of Kidapawan, just next to Maguindanao. The message was that Gov. Emily Talino Mendoza of Cotabato joined the whole nation in mourning for the 44 brave SAF commandos and that the Province of Cotabato was extending a P10,000 financial assistance to the families of each victim. Gov. Mendoza said, “This small amount is no match to the 44 Brave souls who put their lives on the line to give us peace and justice.” So where’s justice?
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