EDITORIAL - Were the 44 SAF commandos left to die?

We are all looking for the truth? Well here is the truth. President Aquino himself said he already knew as early as 5 a.m. of January 25 that the Philippine National Police Special Action Force commandos on a secret mission to get two wanted terrorists holed up in Mamasapano, Maguindanao were pinned down under heavy fire from combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Front. By nightfall, 44 SAF commandos were dead.

Aquino knew very early because he had to know. It was imperative that he knew. As one of only three major players in on the plan, the other two being suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima and SAF chief Getulio Napeñas, it was absolutely essential that he gets updates of the plan's execution every step of the way. That is the reason why as early as 5 a.m. of January 25, Aquino already knew of the impending tragedy.

Yet, throughout the daylight hours of January 25, or some 12 hours of good weather and visibility, there seemed to be no real honest-to-goodness attempt to reinforce, support, beef up, provide air cover, or otherwise try to save and rescue the trapped SAF troops. What has emerged during several investigative hearings into the incident is that Army units in the area did respond to calls for assistance but with a resolve reminiscent of the reason why China is kicking us around.

Aquino at the time was in Zamboanga. The official reason was that he had to look into a bombing incident there that killed two people two days earlier. The country's top security officials were with him – defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces chief Gregorio Catapang, and Interior and Local Government secretary Mar Roxas. It is incredible, and potentially criminal, that Aquino never consulted with any of these security experts what to do about the evolving Mamasapano crisis.

Remember that throughout the entire morning, Napeñas was already frantically calling out for help. It insults the collective intelligence of Filipinos that no one among Aquino, Roxas, Catapang and Gazmin never saw fit to even consider what to do about the troops fighting under the Philippine flag  who were being killed one by one as each minute of their inaction wore on.

Yet that is exactly what all four of them would have the entire Filipino nation believe. In the same speech Aquino gave wherein he admitted knowing as early as 5 a.m. about the evolving situation in Mamasapano, he merely said he continued receiving updates the entire day. He never mentioned anything about ordering any action befitting the situation on the ground. It was as if the commander-in-chief was leaving his men to their fates.

To insulate and protect Aquino from his criminal inaction, the rest of the gang – Roxas, Gazmin and Catapang – all played dumb monkey in the Senate hearing last Thursday. Asked by the senators when they knew about Mamasapano and whether they told the president about it and when, all three in turn, like monkeys, heard no evil, saw no evil, and spoke no evil. They hemmed and hawed and otherwise did not tell the truth, not knowing Aquino already admitted knowing and did nothing.