Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Truth and common sense


 For The CBCP Monitor, by Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS.  
As of today, February 4, 10 days after the tragedy, the so-called “Maguindanao Massacre 2” and its increasingly intriguing legal ramifications still form the meat of the news.
The formation of several investigative bodies has been suggested—including a “Truth Commission”—but what “truths” will any investigation yield?  How pure will the motives of the investigating body be, how neutral its stand, how committed to the pursuit of truth?  Through all the agitation resulting from the mayhem that took 63 Filipino lives (44 + 19), certain truths have surfaced that need no further verification for reasons so obvious that common sense suffices. 
1.  A suspended PNP chief is still in control behind the scene; he is on top of Oplan Wolverine.  (“Suspended na, nakikialam pa?  Bakeeeeet?” Only the president of the republic can answer that).
2.  The president of the republic is the only other person to know of the plan.  (Pray tell, where else on earth is a suspended national police chief so trusted by a chief executive?)
3.   The acting PNP chief and the Local Government head are both ignorant of the plan.  (Why bypass these two?  Only the president can explain why).
4.  All of the above are from Chief Superintendent Getulio Napenas, admitted publicly and repeated endlessly by media.  He was sacked soon after.  (Because in telling the truth he implicated the country’s highest officer?  Only the president can answer that).
5.  There is a $5 million reward on the head of the quarry Marwan.  (Is this why Oplan Wolverine was kept a secret?  Maybe the president knows the answer to that).
6.  The suspended police chief has fled to Saipan, a US commonwealth.  Whatever the reason for the choice of destination, the timing bad and the president’s silence on it invites suspicion.  Is the US involved in Oplan Wolverine? (Nobody seems willing to answer that).
The incident is never mentioned in the international news—I find that very strange.  As I write this foreign television channels are all agog to report bad news around the world, including: the burning to death of a Jordanian pilot; the beheading of the a Japanese journalist by the ISIS; the stabbing of some French cops in Nice; a train collision in New York that killed six people; renewed “catastrophic” clashes in Ukraine; the hospitalization of Whitney Houston’s daughter; the toy sales that boosted Disney’s coffers; and the ubiquitous football matches.
Do you not wonder why something as tragic as this Mindanao clash that killed 63 Filipinos—happening in the middle of peace talks and implicating the president and his friend the suspended police chief—is not getting even 10 seconds of footage on international tv?  Is the welfare of this poor island nation of less importance to their audiences than the life of dead celebrity’s daughter?
You might find interesting what I heard about foreign media’s silence from a friend—among that rare breed of thinkers who wed intellectual agility with sound moral judgment: “Either it isn't newsworthy enough ... or the US Embassy had purchased the gag.  In my humble opinion the proof of US involvement is the silence of foreign media on the SAF44.  It would be so easy for modern investigative journalism to dig up the facts and expose another US blunder, at the end of which chain would be ... well, by command responsibility, Obama.  Those covert operators at USAID and spin doctors in Dewey Boulevard are sweating bullets trying to cover ass.  Could the same not be happening in Malacanang?”
He asks who authorized Purisima to remote-control the operation, and points out that the suspended police chief ‘s training “was done mainly in Uncle Sam’s turf… in 2011, 2010, 2004, 1987, 1986. Who wouldn't suspect that he had been recruited somewhere along the way?  They had him in '86, by my reckoning.  Who wouldn't suspect that Alan Purisima's unexplained wealth came not from Filipino taxpayers, but American? … Doesn't it make you shudder to think that the Philippine National Police can be headed by an agent of a foreign power?  It's a question of loyalty and trust.  Make no mistake about it:  Noynoy and Alan are virtual American citizens, loyal to the United States (and beyond that, even Freemasonry).”
My friend continues:  “But the way facts are emerging, it seems that Purisima was more than a consultant.  And the whole operation went way beyond Noynoy or his good friend Alan. It has all the marks of a behest political action op from the US (under cover of USAID).  The objectives were not wrong.  But the execution was terribly flawed. They have no permanent friends, these guys, only permanent interests.  They bypassed Philippine Governmentt authorities and violated Philippine sovereignty, at the expense of the lives of Filipino “pawns” about whom they could not care less.   As a matter of partisan practice, Noynoy was raring to gather the Nobel pogi points for the capture of Marwan and Usman.  But then, pffft!  Even now, official explanations are being spun to broadcast limited versions of the whole truth.”
Much as I would not wish to “unfriend” the country that has been the home of so many of my relatives, I cannot play deaf to my friend’s incisive observations, for it has been the strategy of world powers wanting to dominate a nation: divide and conquer. 
There are so many other facts and facets to explore relating to the Mamasapano incident, but for now, we remember that the tragedy snuffed the lives of not just 44 SAF commandos but also of 19 rebels, all Filipinos.  Brother against brother in a bloodbath—all for what?  Things are not always what they seem to be.  It’s about time we Filipinos took a serious look at world politics and see our puny spot in it. And that’s the truth.

Kiko and Lean

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