President Aquino is hopeless. After that disastrous first encounter with the families of the SAF 44 during the necrological services, one would think that he would leave it at that. But no, he again met with them in Camp Crame and once again he shot himself in the foot.
One of the questions from the families was why no help came in spite of the fact that the fighting went on for about ten hours. This was reasonable and legitimate. President Aquino’s answer about fingerprinting the entire membership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front was vintage PNoy.
Still, something good came out of that Camp Crame meeting. For one, we learned more details about his participation in Oplan Exodus. He revealed that he knew of the fighting early in the morning of January 25. He was in communication with General Alan Purisima, General Getulio Napeñas and Secretary Manuel Roxas II. He even showed the families the text messages he received which he should not have done because this clearly contradicted the statements of two Cabinet Secretaries and a score of very senior military officers who said that there was no talk about the fighting during the flight and while in Zamboanga. They said it was only in the afternoon that the Mamasapano fighting was discussed.
We now know differently. He also said that the one at fault was General Napeñas because he “sent them to a dangerous mission”. This is in spite of the repeated statements coming from the Palace to wait for the outcome of the Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry. He has now prejudged the case which is totally unfair to General Napeñas.
With the conclusion of the Senate hearings, we have also learned a lot more but some questions will perhaps remain unanswered. Even if the PNP BOI and the Senate committee report attempt to answer them the public would not be satisfied — and for good reason.
There have been many attempts to shield the President from any responsibility in what happened in Mamasapano. Now, the news is that the President has been lied to by Purisima. This is jumping to conclusion — and a clever way to divert his own miscalculations. He himself has not exactly been forthcoming with his statements. The text messages of Purisima were based on his understanding of the message he received from General Guerrero of the WestCom and was not necessarily a lie.
We have to bear in mind that on January 25, two Chiefs of the PNP were in communication with the leadership of Armed Forces. One OIC and one suspended. If that is not a recipe for confusion, I do not know what is.
If we also analyze the text messages between Mr. Aquino and Purisima, it tells us that the President was deeply involved. Some of his text messages like “We are back to square one” and “Usman must not get away” showed his familiarity with the plan.
In last Monday’s Senate hearing, the subject of presidents never getting involved in tactical police and military operations was brought up, if I am not mistaken, by Senator Antonio Trillanes. it is also true however, that no president until President Aquino ever dipped his or her finger in a purely tactical operation. The President has in Oplan Exodus.
This is why his participation is fair game for scrutiny. He was in the loop from the very beginning. It is safe to assume that there are other communication not revealed. The Senate Committee should therefore, subpoena all the telephone records to determine the extent of the exchanges between the participants not only on January 25 but also after.
What we need from the President is for him to be man enough to face the nation that is,anxiously waiting for him to come clean. Without that, the Mamasapano encounter will never go away. It will now define his presidency.
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One issue that came to fore in the last day of the Senate hearing was the rescue effort and why no artillery was fired. Napeñas will probably go to his grave believing that had the Army provided the SAF with artillery support, that the casualties would not have been so high. General Pangilinan on the other hand also believes in his heart that the conditions to provide artillery support were not there and to fire the 105 MM howitzers might have done more harm than good.
This issue will never be resolved to the satisfaction of all. The commander of the mechanized brigade however, did recommend providing artillery support to the beleaguered SAF but was denied by General Pangilinan. The Brigade Commander was never invited by the Senate to tell why he recommended providing artillery support. He could not have recommended such an action without careful appreciation and knowledge of the ground. The other question was why no helicopters were flown to provide some covering fire.
These are some questions that people are asking but again, it is hard to second guess the appreciation of events by those commanders on the ground. It is impossible to fight a battle again because it is all water under the bridge. I think the PNP and AFP should move on.
There are many lessons to be learned from what happened and reforms must necessarily follow. We must also remember that the mission was successful because the objective was taken out albeit at a very high cost.
Let us hope that Congress comes up with the necessary law to improve the operational relationship of the AFP and PNP to include their command structures. Let us also hope that this would be the last time that a president will designate a suspended officer to take charge of a critical project.
