EDITORIAL - Investigations useless. PNoy should just apologize

Too many cooks, indeed, will spoil the broth. And that is the fate that awaits any investigation into the January 5 Mamasapano massacre of 44 members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force members in the hands of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Front if conducted by too many entities.

As of now, there is already an investigation ordered by President Aquino. Then there is the investigations called by the House of Representatives and the truth commission being proposed by the Senate. There too are the investigations by both the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Not to be outdone, the MILF is also doing its own investigation. The Human Rights Commission is also investigating, it said so itself.

If there is anything that is certain to emerge from all of these investigations, it is that there will be no single truth that will emerge. There will be as many versions of the truth as there are bodies and agencies are investigating. What will emerge will be a cacophony of discordant voices each proclaiming its own version to be the accurate one.

What will ultimately be achieved is further discord and disunity. There will only be resentment by those who will feel their versions are being discarded in favor of somebody else's. More that finding out the truth about what happened, there will only be further obscuring of the real facts surrounding one of the worst law enforcement debacles this country has seen.

Actually, this country need not go down that road. This country need not even conduct an investigation, knowing full well that, with so many versions waiting to be aired, there can be no unifying narration of the events that led to the tragedy. So what does this country need to do in lieu of an investigation so that the matter can be put to rest and everybody gets to move forward.

There is only one thing that can be done in that direction. And that one thing is for the president to man up to his responsibilities. President Aquino has already admitted earlier to having known about the operation. He has admitted having been in the know about the whole thing from the beginning. What he did not say but can be read between the lines is that he was, in fact, on top of the whole thing.

President Aquino can do a Gloria Arroyo by saying he was responsible. He can do a Gloria Arroyo by saying he is sorry. How things proceed from there is anybody's guess, of course. But if it is any consolation, Aquino is not in the same level of public distrust as Arroyo was at the time of her mea culpa. Aquino stands a fairer chance of surviving this crisis. He must keep in mind that, whatever the investigations may say, the public has already pinned the blame on him anyway.