Questions, questions

Relieved Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) Director Getulio “Leo” Napeñas Jr. said that many wounded SAF members were alive up to 12 noon and could have been saved if reinforcement came.

Didn’t he have an arresting force of 392? Only 44 commandos were killed, 14 wounded plus one survivor entered the Moro Islamic Liberation Front/Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (MILF/BIFF) area? Where did the 333 remaining force go?

Did Napeñas send a reconnaissance team before starting the operation? Did he have an exit plan? The 44 SAF elite policemen  were slaughtered because they were surrounded and trapped in an indefensible area, a corn field — called the box.

Why was Basit Usman able to escape? Wasn’t he in the same house where Zulkifli bin Hir lived, or at least nearby?

Why did the Philippine Army (PA) not receive the call for reinforcements? Why was the operation not coordinated with them to begin with?

What was suspended PNP Director General Alan Purisima’s role in the entire operation? Was he in control of the operation? Why did he leave for Saipan the day after the “misencounter”?

SAF commander Napeñas quoting some wounded SAF personnel said they ran out of bullets. Why was that so? Why were the SAF commandos not given more bullets than what they carried?

Why was the Philippine Air Force (PAF) also not involved in the operation?

It certainly looks like the SAF commanders and Purisima wanted to claim credit (and the reward?) exclusively their own.

Belatedly, the MILF claimed they also lost 18 fighters. Or was it originally pegged at 11?

Why is there no reaction from the MILF for them to surrender the men who did the killing and the firearms and other equipment taken by MILF and BIFF rebels? The BIFF admitted they captured ten M-14s.

Why is the BIFF holding camp right next to an MILF camp?

Was the firefight originally with the BIFF? Why did the MILF join and reinforce the BIFF rebels?

Shouldn’t there be an obligation of the MILF to have surrendered terrorists Zulkifli and Usman to begin with?

Was “Operation Wolverine” cleared with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa as chairman of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC)?

Was the United States involved in the operation?

The bottom line — the massacre happened because it wasn’t well planned.

Compensation for 44 SAF

President Aquino released from the Presidential Social Fund (PSF) P250,000 each for the 44 dead SAF commandos.

Mayor Estrada and the City Council of Manila gave P100,000 each for the fallen 44 SAF members.

The Philippine STAR  has raised more than a million from private donations.

The SAF Tagaligtas Foundation is also raising funds.

The Business Mirror is also raising funds.

It is estimated that each dead SAF member will get at least P1 million in benefits from the PNP and the PSF.

Brillantes retires

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto “Boy” Brillantes Jr. and Commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusof retired from the Comelec yesterday.

Brillantes signed the Smartmatic maintenance contract on his last day of office. He vowed to defend it in court.

Brillantes served for four years. He said he will no longer accept any government job.

Under his term, serious doubts have been raised on the integrity of the 2010 and 2013 elections.

Lingayen- Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), stressed the need for serious concerns over Comelec deals involving the automation and digitization of the May 2016 elections as they are facing allegations of irregularities in their precinct count optical scan (PCOS), the ballot-counting machines supplied by Smartmatic.

“Bishops individually and collectively have been apprised of the vulnerability of the system,” said Villegas. He also added that there have been credible reports of the failures of the system that puts serious doubts on the electoral process.

Tidbits

Adult joblessness increased to some 12.4 million Filipinos (27 percent) in the fourth quarter of 2014, the highest since December 2013’s 27.5 percent.

The Agri-Pinoy Rice Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Masbate is a failure.

Constitutional expert, former Deputy Speaker Pablo Garcia testified at the Senate that the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is unconstitutional.

Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban also testified that certain unconstitutional provisions could be cured by the Congress acting as a constituent assembly.

Senator Grace Poe said that suspended PNP chief Purisima must explain his role in “Oplan Wolverine.”

Former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos was acquitted of electoral fraud by the Pasay Regional Trial Court (PRTC).