In a recent interview with the Inquirer, Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III alluded to an alternative “truth” to what really transpired during the Mamasapano clash that resulted in the deaths of 44 Special Action Force officers, four civilians and 17 rebel forces on the 25th of January 2015. The President is referring to a report from the investigation conducted by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that suggest that it was the aides of bombing terrorist Zulkifli Abdhir a.k.a. Marwan who killed him and not the SAF troopers. It’s worth mentioning that rebel forces from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were responsible for the massacre of the 44 helpless SAF troopers after the supposed raid of the terrorist’s hut.
Bodies of massacred Special Action Force troopers arrive at Villamor Air Base.
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
It does look odd that BS Aquino brought up an issue that he seems to prefer to avoid discussing in public forums. We recall BS Aquino was missing in action for days after the tragedy prompting Netizens to trend the hashtag #NasaanAngPangulo on social networking site Twitter calling on him to do something. When the President finally made a statement after three days, he appeared flippant during the press conference with some astute observers noting that he was lacking in sympathy towards the deaths. He refused to answer simple questions directly. He didn’t want to confirm that he knew about the secret operation called Operation Exodus. We also recall that a lot of his allies were encouraging the public to move on when calls for accountability were still loud a few months later. But now he is saying that the reports submitted by the Philippine National Police may not be complete.
“Yung official ba na kinuwento ng [Special Action Force] ang talagang lahat na nangyari, kumpleto? Itong ‘alternative’ ba ang mas kumpleto or may idadagdag doon sa tinatawag na ‘narrative?’ Puwede bang parehong mali at merong pangatlong version? Hindi rin kami nagsasara ng kaisipan na baka itong alternative ay pampagulo lang sa usapan. So ang dulo niyan, paano natin malalaman ang katotohanan, kailangan natin ng testimonya at saka ebidensiya, at ‘yon ang nililikom,” he added.
The question is, why would BS Aquino even give weight to the report conducted by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front? They submitted their report a long time ago so why only mention it now? Is this his way of painting the rebel group under a better light? After all, he still hasn’t given up on pushing for the passing of the Bangsamoro Basic Law in Congress. He is looking more and more desperate in his attempts to push for it though. He’ll have no luck considering members of congress don’t want to show up for work lately.
Apparently, there is indeed another version of the ‘truth”. A recent report from the Los Angeles Times gave details of the event:
Before dawn on Jan. 25, a Philippine National Police commando team crept toward a thatched hut in the marshy jungles of Mindanao. They were hunting Marwan, an elusive bomb maker with a $5-million U.S. bounty on his head.
But they weren’t hunting alone.
Five or six U.S. counter-terrorism advisors assisted from a police command post nearby, tracking the assault team in live video from a U.S. surveillance aircraft circling overhead. “Their main role was to provide tactical, live intelligence,” said a Philippine officer who was present.
As the 13 commandos closed in, one stepped on a buried mine. The explosion wounded him and brought a burst of gunfire from the hut.
After a firefight, the American-trained team rushed in and radioed “Bingo, Mike One” to the command post. “Operation Exodus” appeared a success. The wispy-bearded target was dead.
To make certain, they sliced the right index finger off the corpse. DNA tests by the FBI later confirmed that it belonged to Marwan, nom de guerre for a Malaysian-born, U.S.-educated engineer linked to multiple terrorist attacks across Southeast Asia, including a 2002 bombing that killed 202 people in Bali, Indonesia.
The above account seems closer to the version of the PNP report. There was no mention of Marwan’s aides helping in the operation. One thing is for sure; the U.S. military had a big role in the operation. They trained the SAF troopers for months even providing equipment for the raid.
U.S. military advisors supervised training of the police unit at a seaside resort and in the jungles of Mindanao before the raid. They also provided night-vision goggles, maps and a hand-held retinal scanner to confirm Marwan’s identity.
On the night of the assault, some of the police officers fell behind in crossing rivers and trekking down dark jungle trails. Only a third of the assault team had reached Marwan’s hut when the shooting started about 4 a.m.
Eager to get out, the team skipped the retinal scanner and cut off a finger instead, sticking it in a Ziploc bag.
But hundreds of Islamic fighters from other villages soon joined the battle. They pinned down the assault team and 350 other police officers who had deployed in the jungle to guard their escape.
“One by one we were getting hit and it slowed us down to carry the wounded,” said a police officer who survived the battle. ” As the day went on, we felt helpless.”
U.S. advisors, relying on aerial video, helped some commandos “elude large enemy formations, thereby avoiding further casualties,” a police investigation found.
But the attackers spotted scores of police officers hiding in chest-high corn near Marwan’s hut and began raking the field with heavy machine gun and mortar fire. Most of the 44 dead were later found there.
After the 14-hour battle, a Black Hawk helicopter flown by Pentagon contractors landed and U.S. Army medics helped treat the wounded and collect the dead, U.S. officials said.
The above account confirmed what some of us already know – that the Philippine military did not play a role in saving the embattled SAF troopers. A Manila Times article reported that it was BS Aquino who ordered the Philippine military to “stand down” because sending the military would most likely be seen as a violation of the “peace agreement” with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
From the very beginning, BS Aquino has been more concerned about the Moro Islamic Liberation Front than the welfare of the SAF troopers. Now he is coming across as favoring the rebel group’s version of events over the PNP’s. Now that is tragic, indeed.
[Photo courtesy, @MisterBanatero on Twitter.]
In life, things are not always what they seem.
Tsk tsk, had this happened in the early years of his administration, I wouldn’t be surprised if there would be another military mutiny (and succeed). I also wonder how would he handle that.
not only is he killing them over again…he is spitting on their graves…i am waiting for someone with the cojones of lt. col. antonio tejero from the ranks of the AFP…
Benigno Aquino III,is a known Liar, like his father, Benigno Aquino,Jr.; and his grandfather, Benigno Aquino, Sr. Cory Aquino, his mother, who portray herself, as a Saint, is also a Liar.
If the MILF, Aquino’s buddies, can do the job of killing,the terrorist: Marwan. Then, why send Police, to track him down. Besides, the terrorist: Marwan was living undisturbed, near the MILF Camp.
I Believe more the version of the Los Angeles Times. “Operation Exodus” was implemented. Aquino knew it. Purisima, the suspended corrupt Police, who is a buddy of Aquino, directed it.
When the plan turned up deadly. Everybody is denying responsibility. And, Aquino jumped, and hid into his Hole. Like he did, with the Luneta tragic murder of Chinese tourists.
Aquino is the worst President, we ever have. He is a Liar, Thief, Murderer, and irresponsible. He thinks, he can convince us, with his mentally retarded tale…
I strongly agree…
There is no such thing as alternative truth. There should only be one truth. Nag iimbento ng kung anu-anong salita itong panot na to e. Nung una misencounter. Kundi ba naman sira talaga ang ulo. May sayad.
This self-proclaimed Ama Ng Bayan does not deserved another day in office but must be admitted at National M E N T A L Hospital. He needs a thorough evaluation of his psyche and a permanent change of residency: from Malacañang to Mandaluyong.
A half truth is a whole lie. A lie will easily get you out of a scrape, and yet, strangely and beautifully, rapture possesses you when you have taken the scrape and left out the lie. Every lie is two lies — the lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it. A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future.
BS Aquino, his administration, his YellowTard minions, MILF and other known and unknown terrorists, tell lies when they are afraid…afraid of what they don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about all of them. But every time they all tell a lie, the thing that they all fear grows stronger. There’s one way to find out if a man is honest — ask him. If he says, “Yes,” you know he is a crook.
If falsehood or what they all claim to call “alternative truth”, like truth, had but one face, we would be more on equal terms. For we would consider the contrary of what the liar said to be certain. But the opposite of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field. There is no well-defined boundary between honesty and dishonesty. The frontiers of one blend with the outside limits of the other, and he who attempts to tread this dangerous ground may be sometimes in one domain and sometimes in the other.
It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. It is not difficult to deceive the first time, for the deceived possesses no antibodies; unvaccinated by suspicion, she overlooks lateness, accepts absurd excuses, permits the flimsiest patching to repair great rents in the quotidian.
The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted. When truth is divided, errors multiply. Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. The truth is more important than the facts. Truth fears no questions. There are only two ways of telling the complete truth — anonymously and posthumously.
But better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie. Lesson to learn: You may be hurt by the truth, but it’s better than living with a lie.
Unfortunately, he is still in power and we have to face the cruel truth that there’s really nothing we can do but voice out our outrage on the net. To cut the story short, let him say what he wants to say, since he only has a little over a year left. But when the time comes and his no longer in Malacanang,all his lies will be revealed.
Even Iqbal is distancing himself from PNoy. He just said in radio we should stop talking of Mamasapano.
Really, stupid Panot. He is panicking, maybe having nightmares. An army of lawyers now waiting to sue him day one after he steps down. He asked the reinforcement on SAF44 to stand down, so army and police waiting for him to step down. That time no more gag order on them.
Guy calls others’ statements “Alternative Truth” because he himself won’t admit that he’s lying.
There is no “Alternative Truth”…I call that a: “Sanitized Lie”…showing itself as: “Truth”…
Mr. Aquino, if you lie; you should , at least use your common sense. Some Filipinos have still some brains, and common sense; and some are still thinking.
This is scary. A new phrase coined by BS Aquino III – “Alternative Truth”
hmmm…
From Merriam-Webster:
Alternative -something that can be chosen instead of something else : a choice or option
Truth –
: the real facts about something : the things that are true
: the quality or state of being true
: a statement or idea that is true or accepted as true
All my life I thought there is only one truth in a story and anything outside of it is a lie. There shouldn’t be other versions of what is true.
Let me apply this…
Dad: Daughter, I heard you’re pregnant but not with your boyfriend. Is it true or not?
Daughter: Dad, true but let me tell you the alternative truth also.
Wife: Bakit my lipstick ang kwelyo ng damit mo?
Husband: e nagkainuman kagabi sa bar pero pakinggan mo muna ang alternative truth ko, please.
Alternate perspective, maybe. However, the “truth” is what HAPPENS or what has HAPPENED. Nothing can change that.
Poe has just declared she is also Daan Matuwid? Doesn’t she know this slogan has poison?
Gosh, she just declared Binay the winner. Well, we knew she was a friend of Binay.
Well, take the big profit you’ll earn from political donations, girl, but no more PDAF for you from hereon.
At least there’s hope Poe will apply Daang Matuwid across the board – including Yellow Tards.