INDICTED

By REY O. ARCILLA  
MALAYA

(The Board of Inquiry report concluded that Noynoy was primarily responsible for the Mamasapano Massacre.)

Earlier, President Noynoy Aquino said resigned PNP chief Alan Purisima lied to him about the Mamasapano Massacre. Purisima denied this.

Later, at the prayer breakfast meeting in Malacanang, Noynoy said it was all the fault of former PNP Special Action Force (SAF) commander Getulio Napenas, virtually clearing Purisima.

After the Board of Inquiry (BOI) report on the tragic incident came out, DILG Secretary Mar Roxas cleared Noynoy and said that all the blame belonged to Purisima and Napenas.

However, the BOI report concluded that Noynoy was primarily responsible for the botched operation when he himself broke the chain of command by entrusting the suspended Purisima to take charge of implementing Operation Exodus with Napenas as ground commander.

According to the report, Purisima set up a “de facto chain of command” when he “communicated and reported directly” to Noynoy and gave orders to Napeñas.

I hope the conclusion of the BOI answered Noynoy’s question about why he should take full responsibility for the Mamasapano Massacre.

“Bakit ko aakuin lahat?”, he asked.

Well, “the buck stops here”, remember?

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One of Malacanang’s spokesmen, Edwin Lacierda, otherwise known as the Boy Pickup of alleged Pork Barrel Queen Janet Napoles, and DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima claim that there is no chain of command in the PNP and, therefore, Noynoy cannot be held accountable for the Mamasapano Massacre.

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that that is so, it still does not free Noynoy from responsibility. As President he has absolute authority over the “civilian” PNP. He can bypass anyone in the PNP hierarchy which he did by keeping Roxas and PNP OIC Leonardo Espina out of the loop.

Therefore, does it not follow that when he approved the execution of Operation Exodus, that made him accountable and responsible for whatever its consequences might be. Ini-utos n’ya eh. Whatever happens on the ground after he gave the go-signal for the operation does not alter the fact that he authorized it. Command responsibility, see?

Again, “the buck stops here”, right? He should know that… that is, if he is a true leader of men!

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If Roxas merely wanted to clear Noynoy of responsibility contrary to the BOI finding, it didn’t make sense that he pinned down Purisima as the real culprit, together with Napenas. He virtually contradicted Noynoy who obviously wanted to absolve Purisima of any liabililty.

Are the two engaged in a conspiracy of sort to confuse the public? Are they following a previously agreed upon script or scenario?

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Another conclusion of the BOI report made a virtual liar of the DFA representative sent by Super Amboy aka Giant Smiley Albert del Rosario to testify before the Senate committee presided over by Senator Grace Poe.

Del Rosario’s representative categorically stated that the US was not involved at all in Operation Exodus. Del Rosario himself subsequently said that that was what the Americans told him. And, of course, being the Super Amboy that he is, he believed them.

The BOI report says the US was indeed involved in Operation Exodus from the very beginning. It confirmed that six Americans were at the tactical command post (TCP) in Sharif Aguak hours before the operation was launched. They were providing real-time information to the SAF commandos.

As is already known, the US troops also helped in the evacuation of the wounded SAF troopers to the hospital.

The BOI report further says it was Supt. Michael John Mangahis, a senior

SAF officer also involved in the operation, who provided the information on the involvement of the US.

At the same time, a Philippine Daily Inquirer report quoted an unnamed SAF officer as saying that the operation to get Malaysian terrorist Marwan was “a US-directed project from start to finish”.

The Inquirer report said: “The SAF source said that aside from providing a training facility at La Vista del Mar Beach Resort in Upper Calarian village in Zamboanga City, the Americans gave the needed logistics, including bribing Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels to get near Marwan, who had a $6-million bounty on his head put up by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

The Inquirer source also allegedly said that an American named Allan Konz was in fact in command of the 84th SAF Company, not its commanding officer, Senior Insp. Gednat Tabdi who was among those killed in Mamasapano.

Purisima and Napenas surely must have known of the US involvement.

The P64-question is, did Noynoy? I suppose the question needn’t even be asked. The answer is plain to see. I cannot imagine Purisima and Napenas not telling him about the US involvement, can you? So why hasn’t he said anything about it?

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I was so incensed by the news that the MILF report on the Mamasapano Massacre will be given only to Malaysia! Why?! Malaysia has no connection at all with the bloody incident, except in a very tenuous way – Marwan is/was Malaysian.

To whom do Murad and company owe loyalty – the Philippines or Malaysia? Aren’t they Filipinos and supposed to remain so even if Bangsamoro is formed?

In this regard, Murad, together with Mohaguer Iqbal, his peace panel head, are suspected of being Malaysian citizens. Could it be the reason Murad didn’t even bother to face the Philippine flag, much less place his right hand on his breast, when our national anthem was played during the signing of the Bangsamoro Agreement in Malacanang a couple of years ago?

I hope I am mistaken but I am afraid that Bangsamoro, if it should come to pass, will one day secede from the Republic and declare itself an independent state or join the Federation of Malaysia. See, even its form of government is like that of Malaysia’s states.

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A group of doctors, nurses and other health professionals prescribed resignation for Noynoy. The group recently launched the “Rx Aquino Resign Now” as an affirmation of the people’s diagnosis that “Aquino is unfit to lead as President”.

I heard different. A little bird told me that other doctors have allegedly given Noynoy another type of prescription for the same diagnosis.

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Reminders (for Noynoy):

1) Filing of charges against officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) during Arroyo’s illegitimate regime. Noynoy himself said on several occasions that there is documentary evidence to prove the venalities in the past in that agency. That was more than four and a half years ago.

2) Investigation of reported anomalies in the GSIS during the watch of Winston Garcia and order his successor, Robert “Pretty Boy” Vergara, to file the proper charges, if warranted, against the former.

Noynoy should also order Vergara to report to him on COA’s findings that:

(a) He received the obscenely excessive compensation of P16.36 million in 2012 making him the highest paid government servant then. He was also the highest paid in 2013 with P12.09 million. I wouldn’t be surprised if he again tops the list in 2014; and

(b) That over a year ago, at least P4.13 billion in contributions and loan payments made by 12 government offices, maybe more by now, to the GSIS had not been credited to the offices as of Dec. 31, 2011.

COA also said that the amount of unrecorded remittances could go much higher because only 36 agencies have at that time responded out of the 186 that were sent confirmation requests by government auditors. Of the 36, 27 confirmed “discrepancies” in their premium and loan payments ledgers when compared with those of the GSIS.

There are three questions being raised when remittances, or parts thereof, of government agencies are not recorded by the GSIS on time: a) Where are these huge sums “parked” in the meantime?; b) Do they earn interest?; and c) To where (whom?) does the interest, if any, go?

Pray tell, Mr. Vergara, what is the present status of these funds, including those that may have been remitted since and not yet recorded by the GSIS? How long do you think you can “dedma” these questions?

I believe it is time for COA to follow up on what Vergara has done on the above findings so that affected GSIS members would know the status of their contributions!

In this connection, I would like to address this question to Ms. Heidi Mendoza of COA: “Is Vergara one of the sacred cows in Noynoy’s coterie whom you are afraid to investigate?”

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Today is the 319th day of the eighth year of Jonas Burgos’ disappearance.

I dread to think of how many more years it will take before Jonas’ disappearance is finally resolved. Or, for that matter, the items in the Reminders above. It is beginning to look like it will not be during Noynoy’s daang matuwid watch.

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From an internet friend:

Three buddies die in a car crash, and they go to heaven to an orientation.

They are all asked, “When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning upon you, what would you like to hear them say about you? The first guy says, “I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor of my time, and a great family man.”

The second guy says, “I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher which made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow.”

The last guy replies, “I would like to hear them say, ‘Look! He’s moving!’”

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Email: roacrosshairs@outlook.com

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