Killing fields reduce Aquino to lame duck

The massacre of 44 elite policemen in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, on Jan. 25 marked the countdown of the slide of President Aquino’s administration into a lame-duck one that has lost control of the disintegration of the republic against the rebellion of separatist Moro movements in Mindanao.

The attack on and annihilation of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force commandos who entered Mamasapano to arrest two terrorists—one Malaysian, the other Filipino—who had been given sanctuary by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front constituted a blatant assault on the authority of the national government to enforce the law of the land within the national territory.

The attack came in the midst of the peace process to implement the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro creating an autonomous substate within the republic’s territory, signed by the Philippine government and the MILF.

The massacre of the SAF commandos showed the government’s failure to protect its own law enforcers. It has given rise to unrest in the police and military over what they perceive as a vacuum of authority or leadership on the part of the national government. It has triggered a storm of criticism fueled by the perception that the government is engaged in a peace process in which the MILF is calling the shots and defining the agenda of a peace settlement on its own terms.

It is a gross understatement to say that the massacre has plunged the state’s armed security services—the police and the military—into crisis. The crisis is a serious one and is rapidly deteriorating into a rebellion of the security apparatus. Civil society is now calling for the resignation of President Aquino for his perceived failure to govern effectively. And there are now reports of brewing coup plots in the PNP and the military, whose loyalty to their Commander in Chief has been badly shaken by the government’s failure to protect the lives of the defenders of the republic against the biggest assault mounted in 40 years by those seeking the establishment of an autonomous substate in Mindanao. The security services are fractured in the face of this challenge.

This fracture was underlined by the admission by PNP Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina of the demoralization of the police force over the heavy casualties suffered by the SAF in the hours-long firefight with MILF forces in Mamasapano.

Espina made the admission at a hearing on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law in the House of Representatives yesterday. He testified that neither he nor Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who has supervision over the PNP, was informed about a secret operation to arrest the Malaysian Marwan and Filipino Basit Usman. He said he learned about what had happened from the SAF commander, Director Getulio Napeñas, since sacked, who sent him a a text message “after the fact”—when the operation was already finished and the commandos were under fire from the Moro guerrillas. He said there had been no coordination with the military in the area as the SAF took instructions from the suspended PNP chief, Director General Alan Purisima, who discussed the operation with the President while keeping Roxas in the dark about it.

Asked about talk of “two chains of command in the PNP,” Espina said: “I’m not aware of that. As far as I am concerned, as you know, with only limited powers…” He also said that although he didn’t think the leadership issue contributed to the lack of coordination, he felt that it would have helped if he had at least been told about the operation quietly.

“If somebody whispered something to me, then I could have had the opportunity to review [the plan],” he said. “I’ve seen this for months and years. I always ask for tactics. This is a military area, and I know that peace talks were going on.”

Espina also raised a number of questions about the massacre, and deplored the overkill by the MILF. “We observe and respect the peace talks,” he said. “If [the SAF commandos] failed to coordinate, there was still overkill. There was no intent [to allow] anybody to leave [the area alive].” He said the SAF commandos were “finished off” after the encounter. “They were stripped of their weapons, and their cell phones were taken and [the MILF] called their wives [and told them] not to call anymore because their husbands were dead,” he said.

He also said it seemed that the MILF had no intention of admitting its mistake. “Even assuming [that the SAF commandos] did not coordinate, they were chasing criminals…” he said. “These are just some questions I’d like to ask.”

Asked if he agreed to proposals that deliberations on the proposed BBL be deferred, Espina expressed the PNP’s support for the peace process “because first and foremost we are peacekeepers.” He added: “In conflict, we always mediate so there is order. That’s our mission. So whatever it takes for peace to be achieved, we will do it.”

Espina said his only concern was the “implementation by the other party,” referring to the MILF. “They should show sincerity,” he said. But it’s hard to understand why he implored the MILF to return the weapons and equipment taken from the slain commandos, even after receiving information that the entire cache was being sold for P4 million.

“I ask the MILF [to return the weapons],” he said. “That’s not yours. That’s ours. You killed our men. Don’t add to that.”

But that argument does not work with the MILF.