BBL, mamasapano, MILF
With only three days left, Senate President Franklin Drilon conceded, saying there is no more time for Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), as the measure is already dead in the Senate.
Drilon attributed the slow death of the Aquino-backed proposal for a long-term peace program for Mindanao to the bloody January 25 clash last year that resulted in the death of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) troopers in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
“The political environment has become very toxic. I think the BBL and the peace process of the BBL is the 45th victim in the Mamasapano (incident),” Drilon said in an ANC interview.
so, why couldn’t oplan exodus wait until the BBL was a done deal. i mean, you know, if the BBL was so important, why jeopardize it in any way? why couldn’t oplan exodus wait?
the answer, if memory serves, lies in alleged intelligence reports relayed to suspended pnp chief purisima by american operatives that marwan was showing signs of planning a change in location. so there was a sense of urgency on the part of the americans, who must have demanded immediate action, knowing full well that napenas had a plan. a time-on-target plan that the americans must have deemed doable. the president may have been convinced that it could be kept secret and done quickly, in and out. besides, what was the MILF doing, coddling terrorists.
in fact the MILF is as much to blame for mamasapano killing the BBL, and not only because they gave refuge to terrorists. worse, that the MILF could not prevent or stop the killings — a one-sided massacre — in territory they claimed to control certainly does not inspire confidence in its promise to eschew violence and embrace peace.
as for the americans, i wonder now what they thought of the BBL. did they approve? did they care? maybe they cared more about getting marwan.