Fallen 44

 

QUESTIONS abound.  Answers absent—almost.

That is the sorry score insofar as the search for truth about the Fallen 44’s undeserved fate is concerned.

The 44 KIAs (killed in action) on January 25 were part of a 392-strong police contingent out to issue warrants of arrest on Malaysian terrorist Marwan and Filipino Muslim outlaw Usman in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.  Clearly, it was a legal action against the two international terrorists: Marwan had a $5-million tag on his head, Usman $2 million.  Reportedly, Marwan was killed but Usman escaped.  Marwan’s index finger was cut by the SAF forces and they had it turned over to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The FBI has confirmed the finger matched the DNA of Marwan’s brother now detained in a US prison.  If that finger was truly Marwan’s, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, quoting the FBI, told the Senate probers: “Highly probable, your honors.”

Did President Aquino know of a plan to arrest Marwan and Usman

“Yes,” General Getulio Pascua Napenas, the man in-charge of the operation code-named “Oplan Exodus,” told the Senate hearing, citing two occasions that he gave the President operation updates in Malacanang.

But did Mr. Aquino know of Napenas’ plan arrest Marwan and Usman on January 25?

“No,” Napenas told the Senate.

How the Fallen 44 actually died, why resigned Police Chief Purisima (suspended at the time the Mamasapano operation was in progress) was involved in the project, and where were the supposed reinforcement from the Armed forces of the Philippines when they were needed the most by the embattled, pinned down, SAF personnel are only some of the questions yet to be answered—adequately.

And what was the FBI’s role in “Oplan Exodus?”  Why were acting Police Chief Leonardo Espina and Secretary Roxas kept in the dark while the operation was on?  Had the Fallen 44 been saved if the President knew in advance of the January 25 operation?

The list of questions is so long it could stretch from Laoag to Lanao, from Mangatarem to Mamasapano.  But the key question begging for an answer is: Why did MILF forces, or their allies for that matter, have to kill government personnel—some in a brutal manner—when a ceasefire is in effect, an action against international terrorists was being implemented, and while peace talks between the MILF and the government are ongoing?

That’s all for now, your honors.

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