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.
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?
American presence is an important discussion point, in light of what is in the best interest of the Philippines. It is strange that the Poe report is critical of US operational engagement, in favor of glossing over Pangilinan’s failure to deliver artillery. Evidently the Americans had communications gear in the Op center, one asked Pangilinan to fire artillery, and the general’s response was: “I’m in command here. No!”
So my reading is the American broke the rules to try to save lives, the general would not do so because of ego, and the Senate decides the Americans are at fault.
Is that not the height of absurdity? To consider that, in a battle setting, it took the AFP 10 hours to deliver artillery, after everyone was dead, and during this time spurned all calls for help for the SAF.
Cayetano felt there were still issues to resolve about AFP and put Pangilinan’s latest appointment on hold yesterday.
The question to be asked is, why is the Poe report so political? And why was it released to the public in draft form, before contrary views could be incorporated, breaking normal Senate conventions? The third question is, who is guiding Poe in her work? Osmena? Escudero? Binay?
“…it took the AFP 10 hours to deliver artillery, after everyone was dead, and during this time spurned all calls for help for the SAF.”
_______________________
Ten hours. Right. When everyone was dead. That to me is the biggest mystery. You know Joe, if I were the President, I would have called the field commanders, berated them to their faces, and have them court marshaled immediately. I wonder too why Poe missed that part and have not pursued it. Was she instead afraid that if she did, Pangilinan will point his finger at the President?
yes, the biggest mystery of all. can’t believe that the president does not know why, what really happened. more believable that he knows pero ayaw lang niyang aminin sa atin. face-saving all around? mabuti pa ang face, sine-save.
Maybe this explains why:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/668995/why-the-military-did-not-reinforce-saf
umaalalay daw sa peace process, ano? i keep hoping to hear the AFP respond to leak allegations. but even here, “The fatal theory of leaky AFP”, wala.
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=the-fatal-theory-of-leaky-afp&id=104828
Yes, I would have done the same thing. Read my latest 2 blogs. She has a political agenda, and I think even the President’s office has picked up on it. I note the President will release his text messages about the incident, and he cautioned people not to use them to advance their personal interests.
why is the poe report so political? i think, pandering to the shallow questions of a mediocre media.
For ignoring AFP failure and cease fire team failure, because they are outside the Aquino realm of responsibility, and then tracking culpability up to the president. It is ridiculous. It was a military operation. The home team lost. Move on. Who in this world would hold a president, a strategy guy, responsible for an operations failure? Political players.
And actually the mission was partly successful, but at great cost. It is characterized as “botched”, thus saying the 44 died for no reason.
“botched” because there’s a keen sense that if there had been proper coordination, those guys could still be alive.
They would be alive if Napenas aborted at several logical moments – but he was obsessed about getting Marwan – or if AFP had fired artillery – but Pangilinan seems to have been obsessed about paying back Napenas.
i agree, the poe report was selective, but i disagree that the president can’t be held responsible for the operations failure because he’s “a strategy guy.” all the more reason that he should have made sure, personally, that the AFP was in the loop.
What other nation holds its president responsible for battlefield deaths? If so, no war would ever be won.
He did personally instruct a 2 star and a 4 star general to coordinate.
And he was given assurances that relief support, including artillery, was being provided.
knowing that there was SAF resistance to coordinating with AFP, the president was rather naive to trust in “assurances,” about as naive as senator poe being “shocked” at how hesitant napenas was to reveal the american presence, something even the prez has yet to acknowledge, correct me if i’m wrong.