Noy got late explanations for NAIA blackout, dispersal

MANILA, Philippines - It took a few days before President Aquino got an explanation from officials on the Kidapawan violence and the five-hour blackout at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Aquino told Makati City residents in a campaign rally held yesterday at the Makati Coliseum that he was ill beginning Friday and had to stay in Bahay Pangarap, his official residence until last weekend. 

He added he did not know about the violent dispersal until Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento told him about it after they went to Carmona and Kawit in Cavite for different events.

Aquino said he asked Sarmiento: “Anong gagawin mo sa Kidapawan (What will you do about Kidapawan)?”

“In truth, it was only in Cavite that I learned that some people had blocked the highway and about the violent dispersal,” he said in Filipino.

But Aquino said he summoned officials of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, Department of Social Welfare and Development and other agencies on Sunday to explain the incident, though he did not elaborate on what they had reported to him.

The President’s silence on the issue is being questioned by various sectors, although Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said on Saturday that the rally was politically motivated and involved local officials and instigated by the communist New People’s Army.

Two farmers were killed and scores injured after the police dispersed over 6,000 farmers that blocked the main highway in Kidapawan in North Cotabato to protest the failure of the government to provide 15,000 sacks of rice and other assistance to the hungry farmers and their families suffering from the effects of drought in the region.

“I had a flu, was shaking, wore a sweater, had no aircon, had no electric fan. I tried hard to sleep (last Friday night) only to end up suffering from another problem the next day - my stomach – and was advised by the doctor to rest even just a bit because it was badly needed. I rested last Saturday,” he said.

On Sunday, Aquino said he regained his strength a bit and asked Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to call the officials of the different departments and agencies to discuss the incident with him but they were not ready.

The President said before the Kidapawan incident could be resolved, a five-hour blackout hit the NAIA Terminal 3.

“My conscience is truly bothered because my fellow (officials) rest only on Sundays but I was very eager to begin to resolve these incidents,” Aquino said.

However, the President said the officials were not ready to meet him and he had to wait until Monday for them to explain.

He did not say if he was satisfied with the explanations.

The President said he could not be at peace until all the problems were solved but if they were not ready, nothing would happen in their meetings and it would take time to get all the data he would be asking.

“It was already Monday when we talked,” Aquino, who was coughing and shaking a bit while speaking inside the air-conditioned coliseum, said, adding he would really have to rest but could only do so after June 30.

Before these problems cropped up, Aquino said he was also addressing the Abu Sayyaf’s kidnapping of Indonesian fishermen and had to meet with their foreign minister, Retno Marsudi at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.