Two weeks after the deadly Mamasapano clash, Philippine President Benigno Simeon (BS) Aquino managed to come up with a better spin on the tragedy during his recent speech addressed to the nation. After receiving confirmation of the killing of Zulkifli bin Hir (a.k.a. “Marwan”), he declared the operation a “success” despite the 44 casualties:
Mabigat ang naging kapalit ng tagumpay na ito. 44 na bayani ng Special Action Force ang nagbuwis ng buhay.
BS Aquino calls Operation Wolverine – the covert operation to capture two of FBI’s most wanted bomb makers “Marwan,” and Abdul Basit Usman – a success but hasn’t admitted to prior knowledge of the operation. He also hasn’t admitted to knowing about it even when FBI agents were said to have accompanied the SAF troopers and even when he was close by in Zamboanga City during the operation. He thinks Filipinos are stupid.
President BS Aquino: Retelling of his own ambush is getting boring.
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In his recent speech announcing the acceptance of Purisima’s resignation, he vowed to go after the killers of the 44 fallen SAFs. He also promised to continue hunting for the Filipino bombmaker Usman who got away during the Mamasapano clash. He asked the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for help. All of the above sounded like mere motherhood statements. Never mind that Usman got away because he got help from the MILF militants. The bomb maker is obviously valuable to the rebel group. Why would they give him up? BS Aquino seems too dense to realize that the MILF are not really into him.
If you want more evidence that BS Aquino is unfit to be a leader, then I suggest you watch the video of him speaking in front of members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNPSAF) in the early hours of January 30. It was bad enough that the men and women were tired and grieving, it became worse when they were made to wait past midnight just to listen to another cringe-worthy speech from the President.
BS Aquino was late because he visited the families of the slain SAF members earlier. But he shouldn’t have forced himself on the group on the same day too. Okay, so we get it that he was trying to make up for not being present at the arrival of the bodies of the slain SAF troops at Villamor Air Base the day before but his attempt to “cheer-up” the men and women who probably hated his guts was a really bad idea. No wonder he got the “silent treatment”. It is worth noting that he was obviously forced to fix his relationship with the troops after the public outrage.
While watching the video, I felt sorry for the men and women from SAF who could only stay helplessly silent as their commander-in-chief retold them once again the same story about the time he and his security men got ambushed during a failed coup d’etat in 1987. The elite forces can be forgiven if they thought they would rather be in the battlefield than listen to PNoy’s “pep” talk. It must have been torture having to endure another self-centered speech immediately after the last one two days earlier.
Pathetic is the word that best describes the situation after an awkward silence followed BS Aquino’s repeated requests for the elite troopers to communicate with him. He came across as someone who could not read the situation properly or someone who doesn’t care if the other party is not really into him. This was evident in the way he was forcing himself on them. One wonders if this is the reason why he doesn’t have a wife or a steady girlfriend. But I digress…
Unfortunately, no matter how many speeches BS Aquino gives about the operation, the President still fails to shed light on why the SAF did not get reinforcements or help from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) while they were under attack from the MILF and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
PNP-SAF troops: Impressive professionalism on display even as they listened to the same old story.
The other theory is, BS Aquino decided to avoid involving the military. That is why even when the SAF troopers were already calling for help because the militants were slaughtering them, the military couldn’t go to their aid. The reason for this was obvious during BS Aquino’s initial speech three days after the tragic event. At that time, he kept emphasizing the need to push through with the passing of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. He spoke about it more than the deaths of the 44 SAF troopers. Obviously, the President didn’t want to jeopardize it and the participation of the military in the said operation would have. He was said to have ordered the military to “stand down” instead of “go in” and help the SAF:
It was not clear from our source who radioed the Drone command center and addressed words to his superiors, saying, “Sir, papasok na kami [Sir, we will now go in].” To which the President allegedly responded, “Negative, negative. Stand down.”
Aquino was probably afraid that sending in reinforcements would violate the terms of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between his peace negotiators and those of the MILF. He must have also been apprehensive that if the comprehensive agreement were breached, a full-blown war could ensue and doom the fate of the Bangsamoro Basic Law now pending in Congress.
So if that were the case, BS Aquino did abandon the troopers. What’s even mind-boggling is how he is still reluctant to condemn the atrocities committed by the members of the MILF. Even with the knowledge that the people he is negotiating with mutilated some of the bodies of the SAF troopers, BS Aquino still wasn’t moved enough to scrap the deal. He wasn’t even angry about the way their bodies were desecrated. In fact, BS Aquino could still afford to smile during the necrological service. That’s not something someone with a rational mind would do. That’s not someone who is fit to lead the nation.
In life, things are not always what they seem.
To this day no Noynoy apologist has yet to give me a satisfactory answer to identify Noynoy’s responsibilities in his pre-presidential life that will serve him during his term as president.
He has no idea how to handle a crisis. That was evident with the bus incident August of 2010 and almost every crisis after that. The guy has all the composure of a goldfish whose bowl just met with a sledgehammer at full force. All he can do is quote his long gone parents. All he can do is blame his predecessor. He does not seem to remember he marketed himself as the antidote to his predecessor.
Noynoy has never showed me in his entire life that he is smart. Apparently being dumb is what the Filipino wants in a president. They never demanded smart out of Erap or Noynoy or Nancy Binay. PROUD TO BE PINOY!!!
I think you just killed the conversation by implying that whoever present an answer will be a PNoy apologist.
That’s the reason I hate labeling. You shoo people away from sharing.
the comments field are for everyone. even apologists. if you’re bothered by one person’s opinion then i suggest you go somewhere else where no “labeling” as you put it can be found.
tonyo, you seems to be the one bothered.
As you said the fields are for everyone, so I don’t know where you got the idea of telling people to go somewhere. You are contradicting your self.
Never said somewhere where no labeling can be found. You’re hot under the collar for no reason. I assume you read my posts but cannot respond on an issue-based manner so you troll.
Let Gogs decide on my opinion to his comment. Don’t speak for somebody uninvited. It’s bad manners,
says the one who commented on someone’s comment first.
tonyo, let us be civil on one another. I invite you to critic my comment on Gogs’ post. Tell me why, in relation to the issue, you think my comment was wrong.
@Gogs
I’m more annoyed at the people who put him in power despite his lack of leadership skills than Noynoy himself.
apology, with or without, doesn’t matter. it has no value anyway.
As often as you put pen into the ink bottle, you hit the nail’s head always! I agree that our people’s near stupidity in putting Pnoy in charge of our republic is a bigger concern! I am anxious about what the May 2016 elections shall bring us! What shall we do or can do to avert dire consequences from happening should incompetents be in the forefront of our choices?
If the public has run out of patience and tolerance, what do you think they’re (realistically) going to do about it?
Good question, Dave. It remains to be seen what they are going to do next.
Another round of bread and circuses to keep these jokers from actually addressing the issues.
As I am reading this, Bandila is showing Purisima, wearing a barong tagalog, talking and smiling for the camera, showing no remorse nor hints of shame over the controversies surrounding his name. This is after Pnoy accepted his resignation and heaped praises at him in his speech, and revealed his close personal affiliation with the former police chief. Bandila is reporting that Purisima is denying responsibility in the botched operation. They also mentioned that he would still be receiving a full salary pension after.
Then I remember watching news reports of officials in other countries involved in scandals showing embarrassment and regret while delivering their resignation. Then I see these officials in the Philippines smirking and nonchalant about their current predicaments.
And you know what, a lot of Filipinos are ok with that.
Purisima should be subject to Court Martial, for negligence…but no, Aquino gave him a full pension…
Well, he thinks he is off the hook now that he has resigned. He has a lot of reasons to smile about because his friend is helping him live a “quiet” life now away from the “controversies”. Hopefully, Filipinos won’t let him get away with it.
It seems there is a law against accepting the resignation of one charged with graft. PNoy acted illegally in accepting Purisima’s resignation. Fallen44 checkmated PNoy — he can’t move left or right, forward or backward.
Oh really? Then he has committed another offence.
Random form of torture: lock any MILF guy in a confined space, then make him listen again and again to the story of how Noynoy got ambushed back then, and also how hw felt when his parents died. He’ll talk, I’m sure. XD
Good idea, Noel.
“May kiriring ang tuktuk ni Aquino”…a normal person would not “smile” in an occasion like that one. Aquino is more interested in appeasing the MILF/ISIS/Al Queda, that murdered and mutilated the soldiers/police.
His order for reinforcements would had saved those fallen heroes. He sacrificed them, for his negotiation talks. He does not care about lives…he cares only for himself, his Hacienda Luisita and his political agendas.
It is time for the People of the Philippines, to Force Out , this Traitor…he is the foremost enemy of this country…
pnoy will never give up. it is the bangsamoro proposed nation who shall save luisita through what they called ‘ancestral domain’..he will fight for it over his dead body, that’s his sole mission as a president to save the hacienda luisita and nothing else.
the ghost of hacienda luisita the number 1 enemy of the aquinos. the ‘curse’ of dona luisita, the land belongs to the farmers.
This is beyond “I told you so”. The Filipino people reap what they sow. The majority of Pinoys voted with their PNoys and deservingly got themselves a spineless President and Commander-in-Chief. Cute posturing against the Chinese by asking sympathy from the United States for the Spratlys issue but BS Aquino can’t even take care of national issues in an island he has little influence or control over. He’s a leader just like his mother who hid in the platitudes doled out by the Kamag Anak media machine. But when push came to shove and real life hits with pressing matters, he can’t handle the heat.
Nothing is going to get solved if the Filipinos themselves don’t recognize that they themselves, through the power of the Democratic process and rules, put their Bozo the Clown to power. So it is no surprise that Bozo the President underperforms his duties when qualities of leadership are required.
Unfortunately, some of those who supported him are still standing by their decision. They can’t even accept they made a mistake. Their arrogance will cause this country’s downfall.
u hit it right dude! i admire u! more!!!
“Since former PNP Chief Alan Purisima, who was suspended at that time, didn’t want a lot of people to know that he was the one leading the operation.”
Purisima has categorically denied leading Oplan Wolverine. Maybe the opposite is true (and if so, that fact should come out in the coming days), but given that what contrary information we have now is not free from reasonable doubt itself (by this I mean the Manila Standard Today’s account of Purisima’s involement), I suggest that we give the former PNP chief room to air his account of events, instead of conducting a trial by publicity for which he stands convicted of everything his detractors say well before he mumbles anything.
Because, you know, innocent till proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt and all that.
@Pallacertus
Why did Purisima resign if he had nothing to do with the operation? His name kept coming up even during initial accounts of the tragic event. Usually, the first accounts have more basis than the carefully worded one made two weeks after the event. Purisima should have denied his involvement from the very start. Why was he hiding for two weeks?
If only the “innocent until proven guilty” applies to everyone not just PNoy’s allies.
Who knows? Purisima not talking for two weeks after Mamasapano then resigning could mean one of a lot of things, wrangling over reports of the former PNP chief’s role and of the political repercussions of said reports. But I refuse to speculate, not with info so spotty as it is.
When I said what I said about avoiding trial by publicity, I meant it. It is not such a bad thing to wait for him to divulge what he knows, especially as the wait itself is short.
But of course Purisima had a role in the operation. PNoy already admitted it in not so many words in his initial speech 3 days after the tragic event. Go watch his press conference again.
Except that Noynoy said that Purisima gave the intel he had on Marwan (though he didn’t specify when), and that Purisima helped him explain police jargon that came along with the intel. Those things he very clearly said in that initial speech. The extent of Purisima’s involvement was certainly left vague for reasons that I think were justifiable in a national-security perspective (if not politically rewarding given the deaths of those 44 policement), but that Purisima was involved in the lead-up to the operation? Noynoy definitely said so.
Ah yeah? Tell that to the Marines S2ped. These Yellow Tards are the one very good in Trial by Publicity. Nice try keep on licking the Azz of Noytard anyway you are getting paid handsomely.
44 SAF = 1 Marwan, imagine if we have 10 Marwan then it will be like this: 444 SAF = 10 Marwan.
Thanks to our incompetent Commander in Chief and his suspended PNP General 44 of our policeman died and dozens injured for the sake of killing one terrorist. No wonder its better not to wage war against the rebel MILF more of our Soldiers will die if you have a General like Catapang, Napeñas, Espina and Purisima
Colin Powell quotes:
“The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”
Look at our President and his SAF troops.
Thanks for the quote, Cent! That’s exactly what is happening to PNoy.
If we will be given a time machine to go back on the day of election wherein Aquino won the presidency, can anyone share their own bet that will make our government different from what we are having right now.
Nothing. It’ll still be the same tune only under a different conductor. The syndicate aka the PH government won’t want someone who will rock rock the boat.
Penoy already demonstrated his ineptness to lead from the first crisis his administration face: the Rizal park hostage crisis. He also refuse to take any responsibility as a leader for the faults of his minions and tends to deflect it to others or blame the past.
People who voted for him and the ones who manipulated the 2010 elections are to blame. Well “nasa huli lagi ang pagsisi”.
LOL, the President of the country was not ‘forced to repair his relationship’ w/the PNPSAF or anyone else.HE IS THE COMMANDER AND CHIEF of the police and the military and whether they like him or not HE IS THEIR BOSS !
BTW, does the author know anyone who,at one time or another,doesn’t hate his boss?
The laughability of the speculation in this article as if it is somehow passing for a fact, and then to draw conclusions based these specualtions as treat those conclusions as if they are facts themselves borders on delusion.This would be funny if the subject matter were a different subject like ,say, deodorant and its effects on relationships.BUT it is not and that just makes it absurd ridiculous or sad depending on if the reader feels sympathetic or not.
Let me just summarize what I read in this corner.
I think in so far as this blog is concerned, everything about PNoy is exposed and confirmed in terms of his leadership incapability. So, I say, the title is misleading.
The Rizal park hostage crisis, I get it that PNoy’s grin or chuckle or whatever it is that did not convey sadness at the event was uncalled for. Very unpresidential. That being said, see it as a police matter that should be look at in that aspect. With regard to demand for apology, I don’t even think anybody has the right to demand apology on something one has no control of.
With regard to those who blames those who voted for PNoy, I think it’s bordering on the absurd. Not all of those who voted for him are like those that are fanatics or followers of him. I know a lot who voted for him simply because they like him. They exercise their right to vote and pick a candidate they think is better, not the best, than the rest. That’s the guideline they use in picking a candidate. Nothing personal or political or ideological in picking PNoy. That is why I cannot understand comments that keeps on picking those voters and attacking them for “putting” PNoy in Malacanang. Whether or not they regret what they did or are still proud of their decision to vote for PNoy should be beside the point by now and should not be taken against them.
There is such a thing as moving on.
you’re still here? you clearly love this site more than i do sensei troll, hahhahahaha!
To BS Aquino…
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.
is Pnoy incompetent? i’ll let you guys have a feast on that one. but i won’t let you off the hook for theorizing that “the army was held back from helping”. the army wasn’t. in fact, the army went in and rescued the SAF survivors. i personally know many of the army officers on the ground that day. would any of you?
sometimes, it pays to shut up for a few weeks and wait til the smoke clears. people see better that way. plus, it would have spared the real heroes some undeserved suspicion and slurs. guess many people here would rather go after Pnoy’s ass at a drop of a hat. even if it meant stepping on a few tragically innocent toes.
@jr
There is no doubt that the military FINALLY went in and rescued the rest of the trapped SAF troopers. The question is: what time and why did it take them so long to rescue them when SOS was already called out even earlier? There are also reports saying that the military’s hands were tied because they were ordered not to fight the moro rebels but only to “extracate the trapped police commandos”. That “cease-fire” agreement, which the MILF did not even honour certainly complicated the rescue mission. No wonder the number of casualties from the SAFs was high.
Yes, we did wait for PNoy to tell us what actually happened. It took him almost four days to finally address the nation but his statements did not answer the questions people were asking. The senate inquiries seem to show that the SAF troopers went on some kind of suicide mission. You can’t tell me PNoy doesn’t know what happened because his buddy Purisima was coordinating with Napenas.
You can’t blame people for speculating about the tragic events because PNoy is deliberately withholding information to cover his ass.
Our legions of followers ask us what we THINK is going on whenever there is a gap in communication from the government or anyone who’s turn it is to say something.
So the articles here articulate what we believe happened. Anyone is free to dispute what we say by providing an alternative view or counterargument.
If President BS Aquino does not want speculation to erupt whenever a critical issue comes to the fore, then he should issue CLEAR and CATEGORICAL statements when called to do so by his bosses in a TIMELY manner.
It’s simple really.
No, that is not being implied. We are aware that the SAF in the highway attempted to help. We are aware that Espina called Guerrero directly by 6am. Guerrero called Pangilinan who tried to help. That is camaraderie in uniform in action.
But when there is an alledged command from the very top to stand down, what can you do? You are soldiers who see the unit, the company, but not the over-all, what can you do?
And that is the question being directed to the top that they are refusing to reply to. And that is why we are angry because we too have friends and relatives in uniform.
“can’t blame people for speculating”. now, at least someone’s being honest about it. i say no more.
yeah. you have “friends and relatives in uniform”. and you show your love and concern by speculating. “you can’t blame people for speculating”. at least someone’s being honest about it.
and, oh yeah. hope this REALLY last statement gets posted immediately. seems there’s been a change lately about posts.
It turns out you don’t really have a point. You probably just wanted to brag about knowing people from the military.
bragging? oh, that was not the case. not at all. it’s all about mourning and coping, too. you DID miss the point after all. or are in denial. time to get real. and i move on.
Nah. The fact that you did not have a proper rebuttal means you do not have a point.
We need a great leader for the next election. someone who doesn’t rely on his family’s name.