Waiting for closure

Because of the principal players involved, many people agree that the Senate’s reopening of the probe into the clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao is politically motivated, as Palace officials are lamenting.

Still, Malacañang isn’t getting much sympathy since administration partisans themselves have been plying the nation with long-running, patently politically motivated congressional inquisitions of their foes.

There is also continuing interest in the Mamasapano case because with the first anniversary on Jan. 25 approaching, there has been no closure. All the killers of the 44 police Special Action Force commandos are free, laughing at the SAF and the nation it is sworn to protect.

Worse, the killers may even be rewarded if they are included as direct beneficiaries in any aid that will go to the Bangsamoro – in case the peace deal can still be salvaged.

The concern that the killers of the SAF 44 will benefit from the Bangsamoro Basic Law makes it important for both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and anyone else in a hurry to get the BBL passed, to identify those involved in Mamasapano. Names are not enough; real persons must be presented to match the names. As the nation has seen, MILF leaders themselves are merely using noms de guerre.

If the government wants Mamasapano to be treated separately from the BBL, this is one way of doing it. The MILF leadership must distance itself from the killers instead of defending everything – the harboring of two top terrorists, the blistering gunfire that was meant not just to drive away but obliterate enemy forces, the finishing off of the dying, the looting of the corpses.

That grisly operation was not a “misencounter” but a slaughter. The mutilation of the SAF 44 using one of the most powerful sniper rifles went on and on long after the MILF knew its members were fighting government forces. And as in the other massacre in Maguindanao in 2009, forgetting the grisly memories may start only when justice is done.

* * *

Whether the new Senate probe will move the nation closer to justice remains to be seen. Surely the senators are aware of criticism that the probe is in aid of election, and that the source of the supposed new and relevant information, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, has an ax to grind against President Aquino.

Yesterday the word from the Senate was that only Alan Peter Cayetano, who is running for VP, planned to inhibit from the new probe. Sen. Grace Poe, who did well last year when she chaired the committee that conducted the probe, has promised to be a mere moderator, but of course it will give her presidential bid a boost.

Last year Poe was still being wooed by the administration (whether as standard bearer or VP bet, she couldn’t tell). But now that she has openly blamed the administration for her disqualification from the presidential race, she risks looking vindictive and petty, although vindictiveness is the province of daang sarado.

Last year’s probe didn’t result in any significant nudge in the ratings of Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes, both languishing in the surveys for vice president. The leading candidate in the surveys for VP, Francis Escudero, does not seem to need the probe, while second placer Bongbong Marcos gets enough media mileage with his resistance to the BBL.

Marcos must be aware of the results of the presidential race in 2010, when Joseph Estrada, under whose watch government forces overran the MILF’s Camp Abubakar, received the highest percentage of votes from Mindanao – 40 against P-Noy’s 33 percent. In the 1998 race, Erap also garnered the largest number of votes from Mindanao.

Whether daang sarado likes it or not, BBL deliberations will be affected by the revival of Mamasapano. The peace process was among the casualties of the clash.

Another casualty was P-Noy’s favorite cop, long-time bodyguard Alan Purisima. This is another reason for the revival of the probe: P-Noy didn’t come completely clean on Purisima’s role, although Poe’s committee formed its own conclusions and presented these in detail in its report.

Will Enrile, still with connections in the security establishment, come up with something new? And will Getulio Napeñas, who is running for senator under the opposition after being sacked as SAF commander, have something new to say?

* * *

From what we pieced together out of the probe and what was left unsaid, Oplan Exodus looked largely like Oplan Saving Alan Purisima.

As we are seeing in the case of Transport Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, P-Noy doesn’t let go of former security aides easily. Under daang sarado, iba ang may pinagsamahan.

As Philippine National Police chief, Purisima was at loggerheads with his direct boss, interior chief Mar Roxas. The PNP chief ignored Roxas and reported directly to P-Noy. Like Poe, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Jejomar Binay, Purisima reportedly saw Roxas’ hand in the corruption charges that led to his suspension as PNP chief.

Although it was a corruption case, the leader of the straight path or tuwid na daan apparently believed in redemption for officials close to him. The opportunity fell into their lap, thanks to intel reportedly from Uncle Sam that Bali bomber Zulkifli bin Hir, a.k.a. Marwan, had arrived with a woman, possibly a spouse, in Mamasapano.

It was live, actionable intel; Marwan could leave any time, and it required swift action. Purisima had long been pursuing Marwan so P-Noy decided to risk allowing a suspended PNP chief to direct the operation. If it turned out to be a success, redemption would be easier for Purisima.

In fact it was a success because Marwan was neutralized. But the cost proved steep for P-Noy, who seemed to agree with Purisima’s opinion that the carnage should be blamed entirely on the ground commander, Napeñas.

The military, kept out of the loop like Roxas, also washed its hands of the failure to save the SAF 44.

P-Noy’s snit was evident in his initial reactions, including his conspicuous absence at the arrival honors for the fallen SAF.

The rest is old story. The last thing the Senate probers should want is to prove Malacañang right, that they are simply beating a dead horse.