Is blood is thicker than controversy?
“For the President’s cousin, Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, those calling for the President to apologize for the Mamasapano tragedy are setting a trap,” reports ABS-CBNnews.com.
The senator pointed out that his cousin “has already assumed responsibility for the Mamasapano carnage and had said he will take the knowledge of the incident to his grave.”
The senator explained, “We don’t live in a vacuum. Right now, a lot of the moves are really towards 2016. We are almost sure it’s a trap. We are almost sure na as soon as mag sorry siya, someone is going to say ‘O, bakit naka-smile?’ ‘O bakit hindi sincere ang mukha?’ ‘O bakit ganun ang tono ng boses niya?’ I am almost sure that those who are asking to say sorry are already ready with their statement after he does so.”
Senator Aquino then suggested three things that the government can do:
1. Prosecute those responsible for the killings.
2. Take care of the families of the fallen Special Action Force commandos.
3. Ensure that the same incident does not happen again in Mindanao.
The encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan 25 left 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF) dead. The PNP-SAF troopers had been out to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman. Both men had bounties on their heads placed by the U.S. government: US$5 million for Marwan and US$1 million for Usman.
The operation turned bloody when members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said they had to fight back because the PNP-SAF had breached their territory. They alleged that they had not been informed about the operation to get Marwan and Usman. The hostile encounter lasted 11 hours. The MILF lost 18 of their fighters.
Both the government and the MILF have done probes on the Mamasapano encounter to determine what went wrong, as the incident threatens the Bangsamoro peace deal. It has since been revealed that the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and even some armed civilians were also involved in the clash.
Photo: Senate
