Aquino and Mamasapano
THE Office of the Ombudsman’s weak case against Benigno Aquino III in the Mamasapano case has just stirred up all the bad memories people had of the former president’s lack of empathy – and fatal inaction – for the 44 Special Action Force policemen who died in rebel country with no one attempting any rescue.
The Ombudsman filed two simple charges against Aquino before the Sandiganbayan on Wednesday: graft and usurpation of authority. Both are bailable, and the landed former president can easily pay the total P40,000 bail cost.
But the relatives of the slain elite policemen will not participate in the case “as a sign of disgust and protest,” according to the lawyer of the SAF 44 kin Ferdinand Topacio. Calling the case “sham proceedings,” they are asking the Supreme Court to restore their complaint of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide.
It has been two years since the massacre of the 44 SAF men in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, while on a covert mission planned by Aquino and his former police chief Alan Purisima, who was suspended during that time on a corruption case.
But the incident and its horrifying details are still fresh in the minds of many people. This is one of those cases that time will never heal, as it strikes at the heart and soul of the republic. It affirmed for history the general apathy and weakness of former commander-in-chief Aquino, who had violated the revered military injunction to “never leave a man behind.”
Whenever Mamasapano is recalled, so will Aquino’s ineptness as president. Such was the impact of the debacle at Mamasapano that political pundits have cited it as one of the reasons for the loss of former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas in the 2016 elections. Roxas, who was endorsed by Aquino, denied any involvement in the Mamasapano operation but neither has he shed any light on why it happened.
Mamasapano also explained the victory of President Rodrigo Duterte in the elections with his reputation as a strong and decisive leader while mayor of Davao City. President Duterte’s pronounced support for the military and policemen and his empathy for their needs and concerns are in stark contrast to Aquino’s indifference to the men in uniform.
On January 25, 2015, the SAF 44 were sent by Aquino and Purisima to Maguindanao on a secret operation to capture the Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Abdhir. The bombmaker also known as Marwan was hiding with the rebel groups the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the poor and largely rural municipality of Mamasapano. He also had a $5-million price tag on his head, courtesy of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The covert mission was called “Oplan Exodus” and instead of involving the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the operation, the three planners in Malacañang – Aquino, Purisima, and then SAF director Getulio Napeñas – kept most of the AFP and PNP top brass in the dark. The result was a disastrous operation that was exacerbated by the refusal of Aquino to send in rescue troops.
Aquino has denied responsibility for the deaths of the SAF 44, who were trapped by the increasing number of combined BIFF and MILF militants who were alerted by the exchange of fire, in which Marwan was reportedly killed. For several hours the trapped policemen begged for rescue or reinforcements but no one responded.
It has not been sufficiently explained until now why Aquino as commander-in-chief did not send in rescue troops or even order airbombs by the Philippine Air Force.
The prevailing idea is that Aquino wanted to save his ongoing peace talks with the MILF, thus his decision not to order a bombing raid or any other form of military or police intervention. An exclusive report in another newspaper revealed that the AFP and PNP were ready to send in rescue troops but were reportedly ordered to desist, or “Stand Down.”
Thus, we had the horrific massacre of the SAF 44 that was seen by many on social media during that time, as the Muslim rebels posted pictures of the dead policemen, lined up in the cornfield wearing only their underwear or even just before they were shot as they lay wounded. The rebels even uploaded videos of them shooting the heads off the SAF as they shouted “Allahu Akbar.” These are images that Filipinos will never forget, nor ever forgive those responsible.
According to the SAF kin, the weak case of the Ombudsman is a “set-up” designed to fail and end in a dismissal of the case against the former president. Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales is allegedly protecting Aquino who had appointed her in 2011, after former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez was impeached by Congress and she was forced to resign.
Two parents of the slain SAF commandos, Helen Ramacula and Felicitas Nacino, together with the Volunteers against Crime and Corruption, want the High Court to reverse the Ombudsman and reinstate the charge of 44 counts of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide instead of the current charge of one count of usurpation of authority.
“Those who died, why are they saying it’s only one? There are 44 of us who lost children. We cannot let this happen,” Ramacula said. “(Aquino) was the president. He was the one who ordered the SAF 44 for he was the one in power. He was the commander-in-chief.”
The idea of accepting responsibility for your decisions, that the “buck stops here” as Harry Truman succintly put it, is an idea that is totally lost on former president Aquino.