The nation’s dilemma

It’s been 13 days since the nation learned that 44 elite Special Action Force (SAF) soldiers died in what we now know as a covert operation designed to capture dead or alive Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir a.k.a. “Marwan.” If at all it’s any consolation to the grieving families of the dead SAF soldiers, this covert mission was in a way successful because of the report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that conducted a DNA test on Marwan’s finger, which matched with his brother’s who is in a California prison. But was it worth the lives of 44 SAF soldiers?

Today, talks of a coming coup can be heard openly in public places. This is because former Pres. Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) has openly stated that P-Noy as commander-in-chief “Broke the Chain of Command and he should accept responsibility for that ill-fated covert operations.” This is a former President and a former General of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who is telling the Filipino people that the President is responsible for what happened to the SAF soldiers.

To add to the woes of P-Noy, the National Transformation Council (NTC) which held NTC forums in Lipa last Aug. 27, Cebu City on Oct. 1, Butuan City on Nov. 11, Clark, Pampanga on Dec. 3, then in Davao City on Dec. 5 and came up with calls through declarations asking for the resignation of the entire Aquino government.

The Lipa Declaration, followed by the Cebu, Butuan, Clark and Davao Declarations called for P-Noy’s resignation because of corruption in the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which were declared as “unconstitutional” by the Supreme Court (SC), which the SC affirmed again last Tuesday. Now this call for the resignation of P-Noy and his entire government was echoed once more by Archbishop of Lipa Ramon Arguelles, and Zamboanga Archbishop Romulo dela Cruz and they are not alone in this call for the President to resign.

Of course, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) led by Soc Villegas did not echo this call simply because everyone knows that he is close to the Aquino family. But all over the country, people are already fed up with the bungling, incompetent leadership of P-Noy, which only revealed his worst in Operation Wolverine because he allowed suspended PNP Chief Alan Purisima to lead this covert mission, then lied to the nation when he said that Purisima had nothing to do with the mission.

It was when the President chose to attend the blessing of a Mitsubishi car plant instead of meeting the fallen 44 SAF soldiers in Villamor Air Base that broke the proverbial camel’s back. Many yellow supporters of the President showed their disgust at the President’s lack of empathy for those that the President as Commander-in-Chief sent to their deaths. This is why FVR said that Pres. PNoy should accept his responsibility for this ill-fated mission.

So now the Filipino people is faced with a difficult dilemma. You can still find loyal yellow supporters of the Aquino Regime who say that the President “made a mistake” and I dare say to them, “How dare you trivialize the deaths of 44 SAF soldiers as a mere mistake? Some say it was a “Misencounter” but cellphone videos posted by MILF fighters belie this.

But as calls for a coup grow louder… the biggest stumbling block to Regime change stems from the fact that if EDSA III really happens, it might just push Vice-President Jejomar Binay to take his oath as the next President and this country would be worse off than ever! It is this impasse that the loyal yellow supporters of Pres. PNoy hope that would allow him to finish his term as President. But can Pres. PNoy recover from this crash?

At this point, you can say that the Aquino Regime has literally frozen and rendered helpless. There was a news report that blared, “COA, Comelec, CSC, DOH, PNP Still Headless: PNoy no hurry to fill jobs.” This alone tells you that that something is terribly wrong with the way the Aquino Regime is running the ship of state, which is why the NTC wants all of them to quit!

The latest reports have it that suspended PNP Chief Alan Purisima finally resigned and which was accepted (with regrets?) by Pres. PNoy Aquino. There is no question that Purisima’s resignation doesn’t exonerate him from his responsibility of what happened last Jan.25^th in Mamasapano. So far we only got his resignation…but nary an explanation on what happened.

Meanwhile the people’s anger hasn’t dissipated, especially when we saw that photograph of Pres. PNoy with former Pres. Fidel Ramos, Sec. Ochoa and DILG Sec. Mar Roxas taken during the necrological services that showed that everyone had a somber, solemn face…yet the Pres. PNoy was the only one laughing. Pres. PNoy should be advised not to hold on to power, if not, he better prepare his exit strategy otherwise, just like Erap before him, an angry people might march to Malacañang to physically throw him out.

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