Category: america

mamasapano mystery

so the police report is out, and a senate draft report, too, and the consensus is in.  the buck stops with the president, not with napenas.  and we people who thought the president was, is, ultimately responsible for the tragic outcome, we are feeling vindicated.

the consequent drop in approval and trust ratings should move the president, if he is smart, to change tactics.  this is the time to think out of the box, no, out of the corner he has painted himself into, if he wants to come out of this with any semblance of gravity or grace.

for one, the president should stop defending the indefensible.  the story that he gave napenas, or is it purisima, orders to coordinate with the AFP but he was disobeyed, lied to, fooled, does not fly.

it needs elaboration because it raises more questions, like why was he not fully on top of it, a mission so important and so delicate,  given the MILF arena and the peace talks.  and knowing of the rift between SAF and the AFP, why did he not sit them all down, together, purisima and napenas with espina and catapang, and order them to coordinate and to prevent any leaks that would alert marwan and usman (not to speak of the MILF), or else!  and why was the MILF not informed, kahit time-on-target lang, so they could start to get the word out to their people and their troops: keep your heads down, hindi tayo ang sadya nila, hindi tayo ang kalaban.  unless, of course,  totoo ang tsismis na kanlong-kanlong nila sina marwan at usman?

for another, the president should stop hitting at napenas, who is a victim, too, of mamasapano.  wala na siyang ginawang tama?  LOL.  then the same should be said of the ones who ordered him around.  and what about the latest from the prez, that napenas could have aborted the operation nuong behind schedule na, buking liwayway na.

The President said that during the actual execution of the operation, Napenas had two instances when he could have aborted the mission.

These include the late arrival of the first SAF seaborne unit resulting in only 13 commandos crossing the river to the target area, and the late arrival of the reinforcing units for the extraction.

like i replied to a comment here, six americans were looking over napenas’s shoulder at the time.  surely there was a consensus to continue.  and surely the president knew of the american presence, because if he didn’t, what would that say of the president?  and of the american presence?

executive & legislative privilege, america & mamasapano

it was amazing, and dismaying, how meekly and quickly senator ralph recto stopped with the questions re the extent of american involvement in mamasapano.  just when it was getting interesting.  general napeñas was about to tell us about the drones.

“Your honor, excuse me. May I interject? May I just remind the officer here that he’s already dwelling on matters of diplomatic relations and military intelligence…?” (DOJ Sec) De Lima asked.

Senator Grace Poe, who is presiding over the hearing, agreed that they should be “very careful” in discussing the particulars in a public hearing.

Recto acceded and did not raise further questions.

not a peep of an objection, kahit pabalat-bunga, kahit as a matter of form man lang.

it’s all about “executive privilege.” historically, it’s the executive branch that invokes it to protect military, diplomatic, or national security secrets.  and usually, the legislative branch seriously objects and argues to make public whatever is being kept hidden, even going to the supreme court to settle the issue.

read UST Law Review’s The Doctrime of Executive Privilege by Charmaine Joy R. Savellano.

To be sure, executive privilege is not without limits. One of the recognized limitations is that executive privilege must be invoked only for the “most compelling reasons” such as the need to protect military, diplomatic, or sensitive national security secrets. Moreover, there is a need to balance other interests which might be affected whenever executive privilege is asserted. The Court stressed that “when the privilege depends solely on the broad, undifferentiated claim of public interest in the confidentiality of such conversations, a confrontation with other values arises.”

…From watching over the developments of the doctrine of executive privilege, an interesting observation on the pattern or cycle for the assertion of executive privilege, thus: There is an underlying dynamic in most claims of privilege. In the initial stages, the executive has a virtual monopoly of information on the case so a temptation exists to overuse claims of privilege. When controversy persists, however, the administration’s advantages wane. The public assumes dark deeds are being covered up. As informants and information slowly accumulate, politics tends to force executive revelations. The presidency loses on the core issue and reveals the requested information, but looks bad in rejecting candor from the beginning. At the same time, the result is often a Pyrrhic victory for Congress or the courts that engenders a loss of public confidence in all political institutions. Aware of this history and politically attuned, both sides usually strive for some reasonable outcome.

… executive privilege is not a simple concept, not quite. It is rather an intricate concept. Its application can pose myriad of complexities, it is far from being trouble-free. First, because the phrase “executive privilege” is nowhere to be found in the U.S. Constitution and the Philippine Constitution, as well. Second, the public and the other branches have the right to know what is going on in the executive branch. And finally, history would show that Presidents have abused executive privilege to cover-up wrongdoings.

the senate’s abject submission to the claimed confidentiality of US involvement in mamasapano, presumably in deference to american interests, is a historic low for nation.  bad enough that the executive department continues to get away with allowing the foreign military presence without the advantage / benefit of formal treaties AND without sustained opposition from the legislative branch.

worse, now — now that finally hindi na maitatanggi, partly revealed na, ang kinalaman ng america sa mamasapano — we not only have to deal with executive privilege, meron na ring legislative privilege.  congress has clearly taken the side of the president, both houses are turning a deaf ear to the public clamor for the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the president’s, and america’s, hand in mamasapano, and heeding instead the president’s marching orders (or is it advice) to move on, pass the BBL asap.

wala na talagang check-and-balance.  so much for the promise of grace poe. 

“actionable intelligence”

feb 11 i caught US president barack obama on CNN explaining his admin’s draft resolution to the US congress for authority to use force against ISIL.

OBAMA: If we had actionable intelligence about a gathering of ISIL leaders, and our partners didn’t have the capacity to get them, I would be prepared to order our Special Forces to take action, because I will not allow these terrorists to have a safe haven. [emphasis mine]

actionable intelligence!  it rang a bell.  i was sure i heard president aquino use the very same words to justify the mamasapano ops.  googled it and, yes, the very same words, when he addressed the nation for the first time 29 january re mamasapano.

“[N]ang nalaman ng ating kapulisan ang tutok na lokasyon nina Marwan at Usman, nagdesisyon silang kumilos upang ipatupad ang mga warrant sa mga ito. Actionable intelligence po ang nakalap ng ating mga awtoridad: Hindi lamang rehiyon, o probinsiya, o munisipyo ang natukoy nila, kundi ang mismong mga bahay na pinagtataguan ng dalawa. Kung hindi aaksiyunan ang kaalamang ito, maaaring makatakas sina Marwan at Usman, at kakailanganin na namang simulan ang mahabang proseso ng paghahanap sa kanila.

and just last wednesday feb 11, the very same day obama talked “actionable intelligence” vis a vis ISIL, palace spokesman edwin lacierda invoked the same to explain why presidential bff purisima remained in the loop despite his suspension from office by the ombudsman last december 2014:

“He (Purisima) had the actionable intelligence. That was the role that he had,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing.

“actionable intelligence” was first used by presidential candidate obama in august 2007  amid debate in Washington over al qaeda and taliban resurgence in  northwest pakistan that president pervez musharraf was unable to control.

“If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will,” Obama said. 

upon the killing of osama bin laden by US operatives in may 2o11, a senior administration official said in a press briefing:

I would also just add to that that President Obama, over a period of several years now, has repeatedly made it clear that if we had actionable intelligence about Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts, we would act. So President Obama has been very clear in delivering that message publicly over a period of years. And that’s what led President Obama to order this operation. When he determined that the intelligence was actionable and the intelligence case was sufficient, he gave us high confidence that bin Laden indeed was at the compound.

it would seem — given obama’s words to the effect that the US is prepared to take action should a “partner” prove incapable of acting on actionable intelligence — that president aquino really had no choice but to allow the mamasapano ops when he did, with purisima in the lead, since it was purisima with whom the americans were sharing the actionable info.  if the prez and purisima had waited too long, at naka-eskapo ang mga terorista, nagalit tiyak ang amerika, and who knows  how that would have affected our foreign and political and security affairs.

naka-eskapo nga si usman, pero patay naman daw si marwan, and the americans may be seeing the glass as half-full, but which brings us back to the finger.  i suppose that by now congress is privy to napenas’ story about why and how it was turned over to the americans almost immediately, it would seem, defying all protocol.  i suppose, too, that our senators and congresspeeps will not be sharing the transcript of those executive sessions with us ordinary citizens, which would mean that these allegedly honourable ones would be complicit in the cover-up.

a cover-up na nakaka-offend because it’s like they’re saying that we can’t handle the truth about america and our lopsided “special relations.”  as if we haven’t known all along.

they think we’re all idiots.  no actionable intelligence for us.

the finger, house of reps hearing

watching house of reps hearing on mamasapano on cable tv, and rep  neil tupas tries to do the senate better.  asks napenas about marwan’s finger.  napenas asks for executive session.

tupas:  i want you to answer that… i don’t think it involves national security… i insist! … kanino binigay? saan? kelan?

biazon: naional security not at stake…  this is administrative … may i remind resource person, a resource person who refuses tro answer  … could be subject to contempt!

tupas:  and i will move to cite the resource person for contempt if he refuses to answer!

napenas:  lives of personnel will be put in danger.

tupas and biazon back off.