Totem

The political fire, it seems, will inevitably climb up the totem pole.

Last week, whoever is doing damage control for the President, must have sat back contentedly, confident that Director Getulio Napenas would be a credible escape goat. Some administrative charges will be filed against him and the whole post-Mamasapano thing would die down.

At the Senate, the entire security cluster of the Cabinet suddenly could not recall when the President was informed of what was going on at Mamasapano through the day of Jan. 25. Sacked police chief Alan Purisima testified about merely giving “advise” to other police officers.

It was the President himself who opened a breach in his own defense line. He admitted being informed early in the morning of Jan. 25 about the goings-on at Mamasapano.

Surely someone was keeping him informed – and it wasn’t the OIC of the PNP. It had to be Purisima, the suspended police chief.

Eventually, Purisima had to admit that. The entire narrative of the President’s defense had to be altered. The original line peddled was that Napenas and his SAF operated much like a lost command, attacking a terrorist lair on his own and without higher clearance. That line simply would not fly.

Plan B had to be hastily kicked in. Purisima, the President’s dear friend, so dear he would not part with him until public pressure began to mount to sack him, would now be thrown into the pyre. He would have to accept blame – and accept it in such a believable manner the President would be spared.

The President, no less, pitched the new narrative. Purisima “lied” to him when he said in one text message that the beleaguered SAF contingent was receiving support from the Army’s artillery and mechanized units camped nearby. Having been “misinformed,” the President could not react to the developing situation in a more adept manner.

If the situation was indeed being monitored in real time using a drone flying over the battlefield, the President ought to have realized early on that no shells were falling on enemy positions and the police commandos were being slaughtered.

The new narrative for the President’s defense cannot but admit he was a sloppy manager. He did not crosscheck information. He failed to use the standing institutional channels to evolve a response. He did not consult. He launched an operation in secrecy, the risks completely lost to him.

All standing armies have intelligence and counter-intelligence. The latter vets the former. Information is never taken from only one source.

There lies the tragedy here. Aquino relied on information from only one source. A major operation was kept from others by the three men who conspired to launch it: Aquino, Purisima and Napenas.

They are the totem pole, standing alone, aloof of protocols and institutional rules. And totem poles, when they burn from below eventually totter and fall.

Trafficking

As we survey our many institutions now in disarray, there is at least one bright spot: our anti-human trafficking effort earned the admiration of the rest of the world.

The second edition of the Global Slavery Index, which ranks countries based on their efforts to fight human trafficking, ranked the Philippines first among Asian countries. We ranked third among the Asia-Pacific countries and 29th among the 167 countries rated.

The Index applauded the Philippines for “making comparatively strong efforts with limited resources.” Our government response rating was given an above-average mark, taking into account the innovative responses adopted to end human trafficking and other forms of exploitation.

The latest ratings given our official efforts is remarkable considering that, only a while back, the Philippines was in danger of being downgraded to Tier 3 status. The consequence of that would have been the loss of some $750 million in non-humanitarian aid, including those coming from the Millennium Challenge Fund.

Among the decisive steps taken by the Philippines is the creation of the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking (IACAT). This council ensured that all efforts, governmental as well as non-governmental, were well-orchestrated and the meager resources available well-optimized.

The day-to-day efforts of the IACAT are directed by DOJ Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar. With his able leadership, a close watch over our airports and seaports was maintained. Government prosecutors were organized into task forces to ensure that the interception of trafficked Filipinos was followed-through with competent prosecution of violators.

The IACAT directed all government prosecutors to give priority attention to human trafficking cases and eliminate backlog in those cases. There are now 17 DOJ-led operational throughout the archipelago. A round-the-clock operations center has been activated at the NBI, monitoring human trafficking incidents relentlessly.

As a consequence all tenacious efforts put in by the IACAT, the conviction rate for traffickers improved several-fold. Known syndicates, especially those preying on victims of natural calamities, are put under close surveillance.

Human trafficking is now considered among the world’s worst transnational crimes, ranking way up the league along with drug trafficking and the illicit arms trade. A major international effort has been launched to combat human trafficking.

Recall that Pope Francis no less took the initiative in convening the faith leaders of the world and rallying them to the cause of ending human slavery.  The crusade against human slavery, in all its modern forms, ranks at the top of the ethical crusade of today’s civilization.

The Global Slavery Index, the primary measure of this worldwide campaign, is compiled by the Walk Free Foundation. The Foundation is an international organization mobilizing a global activist movement, generating the highest quality research, enlisting businesses and generating resources to keep this crusade going.