Apologists are increasingly painting themselves into a corner. They plead “good intentions” on behalf of the people they are apologising for rather than focus on good old-fashioned accountability. 44 officers of the Philippine police’s Special Action Force (SAF) are dead, the victims of a massacre they suffered under the hands of Islamic terrorists in Mindanao as they went about their business arresting a high-profile fugitive there. Yet the “debate” revolves around the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and its buddies in the Philippines’ “Central Government” with whom they’ve spent the last several years talking “peace”.
Fatal meeting of the minds:
Murad Ebrahim and BS Aquino
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Convenient, right?
As for the preferred apology approach for the government of President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III, the favoured argument is not really an argument but, rather, a muddling of the president’s direct culpability for the tragedy by quibbling on petty squabbles between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to serve as a “context” for the failure to “coordinate”. The approach has so far been effective in building a thick smokescreen that now blankets a sensible discussion of how accountable President BS Aquino is. Inquirer columnist Amando Doronilla, in his piece today articulates all the elements of this overhanging haze that leaves BS Aquino “unscathed” by the butchery — elements that Aquino’s apologists invoke liberally to buttress their, well, apologies.
Convenient, right?
Unfortunately for the Philippines’ burgeoning apology industry, only one thing emerges from this desperate effort to cover-up accountability at the top levels for both the terrorist MILF and the peacenik Philippine “Central” Government — that both are hopelessly inutile entities that exercise very little control over the complete cast of characters in this teleserye.
How then can we expect any real solution to come out of all this if the two central characters — Murad Ebrahim representing the MILF and President BS Aquino representing the Philippine “Central” Government — both claim they have no control over their respective domains?
And that is the real context here.
There is no cheesy history lesson relevant in this circus, only the reality of the present situation — that the Filipino people bet the future of “peace” in Mindanao on two men who, today, are both desperately pleading No control and No knowledge to wipe the blood of 44 Philippine police officers off their hands.
What are Filipinos doing tolerating leaders who, by their own admission, lack any real control over anything?
The real context at work here is really far more fundamental. Ebrahim and Aquino aren’t national-grade leaders but mere warlords. Ebrahim is in control of a bandit group. Aquino is in control of a feudal clan. Outside of Ebrahim and Aquino’s realm lies the rest of the country. Yet, both have presumed to represent vast swaths of the Philippines when they clinked toasts to each other over the negotiation table. The whole enterprise was a disaster by design!!
What to do now?
Well, the real solutions are all but obvious and there really is no point in discussing them here because Filipinos tend to be averse to the most obvious of them.
So let us, for a minute, get down on one knee and try to think at the level of these chattering apologists. What is a “workable” solution that might appeal to those who think at that comfy cognitive level? To be fair, it is a bit difficult considering that the “debate” at this level focuses on the laughable notion that there is still much to debate when it comes to what to do next despite finding one’s self face-to-face with a heinous crime begging to be resolved. Why? Firstly because of politics, paramount over all the rest is because a Vice President who — get this — Filipinos elected to office by popular vote is deemed unacceptable as a presidential option. Moronic enough. So let’s go to the more nuanced second excuse, that altogether dismissing Ebrahim and his band of butchers from future “peace” discussions will bring “all out war” back to Mindanao.
The funny thing with that second excuse is that its espousers actually acknowledge that Murad and his criminal gang are, in fact, strongly-inclined to be at war with the Philippines and see peace as more of an exceptional state. The default for them is war, not peace, because peace, for them, is the exception rather than the rule — a complete antithesis of our side; modern people who aspire to a world where peace is normal. For the MILF, a state of peace is like an egg balanced at the top of a Coke bottle — a fragile state the stability of which is hinged upon a very narrow set of conditions.
The MILF, like all the other armed bandits roaming Mindanao, are, in essence, holding Mindanao hostage, threatening to continue their killing spree, even as they send “representatives” in nice shiny suits to Manila. The scary thing is that we, along with some folk in Hong Kong, are all very well aware of President BS Aquino’s sorry track record when it comes to negotiating with hostage-takers.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Noynoy never paid the price to be president let alone a good one. So surprise surprise during his reign which views like a blooper reel, he is always there for the “accolades” yet never accountable for the miscues. So indicative of a spoiled brat who always had it easy. Never challenged so will never rise to them. Never accomplished so will never recognize failure as the price tag to accomplishments.
why not just say ‘YES’ for a bangsamoro nation, that’s what the president wants to save his hacienda luisita through ancestral domain processes and see what happens instead of listening to spin doctors of murad and pnoy.
Playing hot potato with responsibilty is unfortunately the norm around here.
In any other country, they’d at least try to do something about the situations that unfold before them. Even in countries that are not that rich. Such as Bali, where they do have a Jihadist problem but they try to deal with it with their police force.
Philippines though, their solution seems to be burying their head in the sand and wait for the problem to pass.
The ultimate tragedy though is that people will keep electing these inept leaders until the Philippines itself gets removed from the UN or become as bad as an African state.
Wala na tayong pag-asa sa Election kasi bukod sa Bayad na ang mga Botante eh Bayad na rin ang magbibilang ng boto trough Hocus-PCOS at ang COMOLECT. Ang tanging paraan para mabago ang Bulok na Sistemang ito na Huwad na Daan ay Bloody Revolution. A bitter pill to swallow but it is the only way to get rid of these Crocodiles and Pigs in the Government, Senate and Congress.
Oh definitely. Or maybe a hostile takeover. China will definitely want the Philippines because of its strategic location and lots of resources that even the locals fail to use.
Now, I know that China itself is corrupt and full of human rights violations, but then again… so is the Philippines. At least the Chinese will wipe out all of the bandits in Mindanao and the country may become progressive.
@Crispolo pagkatapos ng bloody revolution eh di ano? Gagawa ng interim government na kawatan na naman ng opisyales? O boboto na naman si Juan ng kawatan at tatangang opisyal?
Hanggat si Juan ay tatanga-tanga at gutom walang anomang rebulosyon ang makakapag-asenso sa Pinas.
When it comes to privacy and accountability, BS Aquino always demand the former for himself and the latter for everyone else. A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody. Gotta tell, BS Aquino’s stupidity is to have amnesia over his faults when the person he hate makes theirs.
It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts. The BS Aquino government are like protean bacteria; you hit them with accountability and they mutate and change their names.
Appeasement only makes the aggressor more aggressive. I’ll tell you one thing, those in the BS Aquino government have one big ass shit advantage. That is, if we do what they want us to do, there’s none of us gonna be alive to tell them they were wrong.
This president is unbelievable! The operation to capture Marwan started in 2011 and the officer in charge is suspended while it is still ongoing. So all this time, amidst all the progress in operation, how can he say he has no knowledge about the most recent outcome? Doesn’t he keep track of the operation? Will he go as far as to saying he have no knowledge about if from the beginning? Because yeah, when the task is a failure, he is good in playing stupid.
Well, WTF can anyone do ? There are elements of extremist Islam that will not accept what their leaders decide upon at a peace-table. You will get bombings like those in CDO in 2012-2013, it is a fact that all the elements will not be at the peace talks, will feel left out and so LASH OUT with violence.
The RP is not in control of its territory, the MILF is not in control of all Muslims in Mindanao and so the island is fucked.
There is not easy answer and instead of blaming one person on each side,get a clue, and realize the problem is bigger than the both of them and try to come up with a better idea.
These SPF officers could also have been part of a ‘false-flag’ op as well, who knows WTF happened there? it could be Malaysia trying to move into Mindanao in the long run, who knows? No one even knows who killed these cops/soldiers and usually a ‘terrorist’ entity will claim an act it has perpetrated,the fact that no one has claimed responsibility leans heavily on the ‘false-flag’ M.O..Yes it does.
“it could be Malaysia trying to move into Mindanao in the long run, who knows?”
One only need to look at the map of the lands and waters claimed by the Sultanate of Sulu and whoa, Malaysia, the traditional elite, and the central government will salivate with want of power over the area. There’s the richness of Spratly Islands, West Philippine Sea and Sulu Sea right there. Once Malaysia get full control of Sabah, it’s easy to lay claim on Spratly Islands and Sulu Sea and extend control to the rest of Muslim Mindanao. Same goes when the Sultanate reclaimed their so-called endowed and ancestral lands. No vested interest they say? What’s more threatening is the Islamic rebel groups have ties and support from the Islamic world so what will happen if a certain rebel group or outsider got their autonomy or upper hand in the South? I may be doing an advance thinking here but the ugly possibilities are there.
Murad is Clueless, of who did the butchering of the 44 SAF Police/soldiers; and he pleaded he did not have any Control of the Group/groups that did the massacre.
Aquino is also Clueless, of why he sent those 44 SAF soldiers/police to their death. He pleads, he has no control of the situation; and of the AFP and PNP.
Then, why do These Two Idiots are Negotiating, for Peace in Mindanao, in the first place? If they, have no Control of the situation, at all.
Murad wants the 70 billion Pesos Bonanza; to make himself rich and powerful, at our expense.
Aquino wants to leave a Legacy as a Peace Maker; and to win a Nobel Prize for Peace; at our expense…
We want a leader/leaders who can lead us in this time of National Crisis. ISIS/Al Queda is expanding globally. One of their Targets for Islamic Caliphate is the Philippines. They will start at the conflict in Mindanao.
Aquino must be FORCED OUT from office. Let us have a SNAP election, for the Office of the President and Vice President.
All Filipinos, who love their country; and want to live in Peace must Protect Mindanao. It belongs to the Republic of the Philippines..
In addition to my Blog yesterday about Fundamentalist and Radical Islam…
Radical and Fundamentalist Islam do not want Women or Girls to be educated. They belong to their husbands…they are treated as properties.
This is the reason the BOKO HARAM in Nigeria, Africa, kidnapped 219 School girls, several month ago. The Leader of BOKO HARAM claimed, he got a message from Allah, to kidnap these school girls…
The school girls are still missing…some stated; they were AUCTIONED as sex slaves for BOKO HARAM jihadist fighters…
This will happen in the Philippines, if we don’t sacrifice and fight an enduring victory for Mindanao…
Only that there is no indication from any but the most morbidly Islamophobic sources that the kind of Islam as preached by ISIS or by Boko Haram has gained a significant foothold in Mindanao.
In short, a certain Toro is speaking out of his ass yet again.
Stop it.
@Pallacertus:
Boko Haram is in Nigeria, Africa…it is ISIS/Al Queda inspired. I never said it has gained foothold in Mindanao.
The presence of Murwan and Usman, is an indication of the presence of Islamic Radicals in Mindanao. Suicide bombers, IED, etc…are the terrorist tools of Islamic radicals; along with mass execution and hostage taking/kidnapping…
Right now, as you read this post, the MILF has done nothing, has not been doing anything but to talk and defend, and explain itself on something that in the first place it is vehemently insisting it’s innocence from. It has been trying to distance itself, to no avail, on the group of people who committed the barbarous act. People that are not really strangers to them in an area they dominate and control.
The killings left their credibility or whatever they have in the eyes of the administration in tatters. The puny credibility they tried to prop up and build up in the years they negotiated with the Aquino administration for some Bangsamoro whatchamacallit issue, for the nth time, has been blown to smithereens and rightly so for they bear much of what happened in their area of operation.
The more they talk and defend the more people they convinced that the killers and the MILF are one and the same. Worse, the ‘terrorist’ tag on them has been revived by some people not really out of hatred but in the sincere belief that they are nothing more than terrorists in suits. And this time it sounds very conviningly.
Even though there are some who sees, them even while the negotiation was still on, as just another power hungry bandits and killers who were able to convince the government that they are a threat and needs to be engaged in the negotiation table rather than in the battlefield.
As for the Aquino administration, oh boy, PNoy has let the opportunity passed by by twidling in Malancanang instead of meeting his AFP and PNP man and plan the next move two or three days after the Mamasapano killings. As commander in chief, he should have, in the early hours upon learning of the killings, mobilize his people and, excuse me for the terms, act for the purpose of retaliating and enforcing his authority what was necessary during the time. In short, he failed his very first test as commander in chief in the battlefield.
I don’t care if the anti-PNoy will rejoice for PNoy making them seers and geniuses but the president really came up short with the way he handled the situation. I can only measure his ability to lead based on real time and factual events, hence, I can say that he was slow to the draw.
It was his call and he was caught napping. The critics can blame him for not attending the funeral or not doing the right thing to show his bereavement with the relatives and the whole country, etc. and he may deserve it or not because for me those are not really the priority. The commander in chief should not be tied up to symbolic and ritualistic matters especially in times of great emergency. However, the criticisms just solidify as days and weeks passed without the president doing anything concrete that will demonstrate the government’s resolve and turned into action the hurt it felt in the killings of our men in uniform. He made his detractors right by acting as mere subordinates rather than the officer in charge.
As I’ve said before, this is the biggest challenge the PNoy administration has confronted and it will really drag the president down if all he will continue is to coast along and lead administratively in a time where military leadership is what the country needs
However, I believe the door of opportunity is still open for him to do the right thing any moment and redeem himself. That is so because the issue will not die down while culprits continue to roam and mock the authorities. The issue will continue to simmer so long as the MILF remains untouched and unattached to what happened. One thing PNoy can do positively right now is to declare officially that any talks about BBL or any MILF-related matters will be put on hold. He should not explain anything to the Filipino people unless the governemnt has either taken ahold of the suspects or put them in the right place where they belong. I expect him to make military decisions to arrest the growing perception of disatisfaction on how the governemnt is handling the issue and he should start that by announcing the government will do what is necessary at the moment if the MILF cannot do what is needed to give justice to the fallen PNP personnel. I expect that PNoy to put more importance and attention to the word ‘deadline’ and not allow his watch to decline in his last days of his watch.
Anything short of that will just be another nail on the coffin of this administration.
I apologize for the typos.
“As commander in chief, he should have, in the early hours upon learning of the killings, mobilize his people and, excuse me for the terms, act for the purpose of retaliating and enforcing his authority what was necessary during the time. In short, he failed his very first test as commander in chief in the battlefield.”
Must every police/military action coming from or done with Noynoy’s implicit agreement be made public for all the world (which presumably includes those people the police or military are taking action against) to see?
Surely you know that the president has authorized the military to go against Usman during the necrological services for the fallen 44 a few weeks ago? Unless you think that’s bluster, or that the current political climate precludes resorting to secrecy to carry sensitive high-risk missions through?
The Muslims in the Philippines have all the reason not to call themselves Filipinos because they have never been integrated since Spain colonized and named our country after King Philip.
On the contrary, Sabah was part of the Sultanate of Sulu but the Sabahans unilaterally opted to be part of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 instead of the Philippines because they chose to live in permanent peace and harmony with their Muslim brothers.
Since the Muslims want their independence from the beginning, can’t the Philippine authorities see or understand the reason why there has never been peace in Mindanao ever since?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxCUSrY2KYg&w=420&h=315%5D
You think the criticisms PNoy got on the Luneta hostage-taking should not make a difference on how he carries himself during crisis situations like now? I believe he should learn from it and the time to rise from that debacle is now. So what if the world will know what the president plans to do? The world didn’t exactly knew he was attending another affair than be with the fallen PNP personnel and their relatives in times of grief. He got banged on that one and rightly so. The world didn’t even know what was his exact participation in the Mamasapano killing that up to now people look at him scratching their heads as to what the commander in chief is really trying to tell them about his whereabouts or who he was conferring to at the time. And who the hell said he should make all his decision public? No need to unveil details of presidential action. A summary of available option is fine. Actually, even a silhouette of the president doing or trying to do something about the Mamasapano killing will be bearable for many.
But to still play the violin while the firemen were already cleaning up the debris of conflagration is just untenable.
‘Authorizing’ is not the same as actually doing. He may have authorized but the application of such authorization is another thing. Is it for media consumption only or for immediate implementation. You see, sometimes we have to go by the saying about the proof of the pudding is in the eating. What you’re seeing might not be what you are getting.
Am I expecting something big from the president? You betcha! The ‘commander in chief’ title, right or wrong, gets to be prominently highlighted in the battlefield or in the operation of war. PNoy have that title. So, it is up to him to polish that title by accomplishing something worthy of such title.
Aquino is a DUD and a lazy President. He was born rich; and has to be served by servants, of all his needs.
“This should had been been…” “That should had been…”, are nothing but “Consuelo de Bobo”, of some Yellowtards.
Imagine the AFP and Aquino, pleading of the return of guns and equipment, confiscated by the MILF. And the surrender of the Criminals/Butchers and Usman ,who did the murdering/butchering of the 44 SAF/Police…
Aquino is pleading “Good Faith” for the MILF…so that he can give them the 70 billion pesos Fund to buy guns , explosives and war materials…
You plead to your enemies?
Aquino is a ball-less president. Like literary BALL-LESS. One of the people who helped carry him to a private doctor says “He got shot way back in his younger days and losses his manhood, well of course they were paid to keep the info confidential. And that’s my friends answer to the question “where’s the first lady?”
So why he kept his mouth shut and didn’t do anything during the Chinese warship – filipino fisherman incident? Simple, because he favors his country men more than us.. Yes people, it’s time to look at his family tree.
pls some one, hand me a basket
http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/philippines/documents/press_corner/20150206_02_en.pdf
“In the last three years, the Mindanao peace process has brought aboutincreased hope and optimism for future security and prosperity. However this event has reminded us that this cannot be taken forgranted and that violencecan still erupt unexpectedly.
The launch of investigations by both the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front into this tragic incident is a necessary and welcome step.”
With friend as the EU you dont need…
First of all:The two ‘leaders’ are not hiding from anybody: They are out their flaunting their abilities to do so much,or as in this case, as little as they can….and you,the Filipino public are powerless to stop them from doing so…..that uis what their smiling faces are saying !!! HA, A BIG “FUCK YOU” ,if you don’t like it…so there…put that in your pipe and toke it !!!