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Tag: SAF44

Why did Aquino float the ‘baseless alternative truth’?

Aquino belies his own alternative truth in a Malacanang presentation.Photo by Lauro Montellano, Jr. / Malacanang Photo Bureau.
Aquino belies his own alternative truth in a Malacanang presentation.Photo by Lauro Montellano, Jr. / Malacanang Photo Bureau.

A week after he floated an “alternative version” to the killing of Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli “Marwan”bin Hir last January which also cost the lives of 63 people, 44 of them members of the elite Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police, President Aquino yesterday belied it saying it was “baseless.”

In a televised presentation, Aquino said: “It is clear from the presentation today: the SAF were there; we can no longer doubt that it was the SAF who took Marwan’s finger. This also means: All the other accounts about the alternative narrative are baseless, and consequently have no relevance.”

But it was he who floated what he now says are “baseless” alternative narrative.
He did it during a meeting with Inquirer editors and reporters last week.

Aquino allergic to SAF 44

Pres. Aquino at the PNP 114th anniversary. Photo by Joseph Vidal, Malacanang Photo Bureau.
Pres. Aquino at the PNP 114th anniversary. Photo by Joseph Vidal, Malacanang Photo Bureau.
With President Aquino, what you see is what you get.

He is not good at masking his lack of concern and sympathy for the everyday problems of Filipinos. Like when Tacloban businessman Kenneth Yu Uy complained to him during in his post-Yolanda visit to Tacloban in November 2013 about the peace and order breakdown in the typhoon-devastated province and he snapped at him “Eh buhay ka pa naman, di ba?” (Uy died last week of a heart attack.)

He is honest. He is no hypocrite.

That’s why Malacañang and Philippine National Police officials should stop making excuses about the deletion of the names two of the 44 members of the Special Action Force who died in the Mamasapano tragedy last January to capture two terrorists in the Wanted List of the United States.

Mamasapano tragedy will be a factor in 2016 elections

Aquino meeting with families of SAF44. Feb. 18, 2015.
Aquino meeting with families of SAF44. Feb. 18, 2015.
Don’t expect the truth about the Jan. 25 Mamasapano tragedy to come from President Aquino.

He had one whole month to tell the Filipino people about his role in the debacle that claimed the lives of 44 members of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police, 18 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and six civilians including an eight-year old girl who was hit in the crossfire.

He had three televised address on the armed operation that turned into a massacre – Jan. 28, three days after the tragedy; Jan. 30 necrological service at Camp Bagong Diwa, and Feb. 6 to announce his acceptance of the resignation of suspended Police Chief Alan Purisima.

Sarah

Photo for Sarah
The tragedy in Mamasapano, Maguindanao claimed the lives of 44 of the country’s elite policemen, 18 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and some civilians.

One of those who died was an eight-year old girl named Sarah.

I learned about Sarah from Hussein Macarambon’s heart-rending post in Facebook:

“ At a forum organized by advocates of peace for Mindanao, the room started to get filled with a terrible feeling of sadness. Stories evoked tears when people who have followed the Mamasapano incident, on the ground or from afar, attempted to describe the pain and grief felt by many, especially the bereaved families of the 67 casualties- families of the 44 SAF troops, of the 5 civilians, and of the 18 MILF combatants.

“One of them lost the youngest victim, an eight-year old girl called Sarah. Her family was roused from sleep by the sound of bullets that had hit them. They survived. Sarah did not.

Let him finish his term

Militant group renews call for Aquino to step down.
Militant group renews call for Aquino to step down.
I hold President Aquino accountable for the death of 44 Special Action Force commandos but I don’t want him forced to shorten his term which is due to end on June 30 next year.

I’m not joining calls for him to resign. I’m against a coup de’etat.

I want him to finish his mandate which the Filipino electorate bestowed on him when they elected him five years ago.

But he should shape up and take seriously his responsibilities as President.

He owes it to the Filipino people even to those who didn’t vote for him.