The President is Ultimately at Fault in the Massacre of 44 SAF Officers

In the morning of January 25, the President communicated details and orders of Operation Exodus to suspended PNP Chief Alan Purisima and Special Action Force commander GetulioNapenas, doing away with protocol that involved following a chain of command. 

By excluding OIC PNP Chief LenoardoEspina and SILG Secretary Manuel Roxas in these communications, he was in clear violation of the PNP’s chain of command.

Despite stating that the chain of command was indeed violated by the President himself, the Board of Inquiry also states that it is the President’s prerogative to break this chain within reason. Exhaustive though the Board of Inquiry’s 120-page report was on the events that transpired in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, they failed to specify the reason for Aquino’s actions.

This violation contributed to a catastrophic event that led to the death of 67 individuals, 44 of which were Special Action Force command officers of the PNP. Since then, the President has heavily placed blame on SAF commander Napenas while refusing to be clearn on Purisima’s inclusion to Oplan Exodus, despite his suspension. 

In fact, the BOI report found that the President even gave an inaccurate description of Purisima’s role in the operation.

Only after being revealed that his approval and trust ratings were at an all-time low, President Aquino decided to take responsibility for what had transpired. He owns up to his part in the massacre by stating that all successes and failures that happen within his administration are ultimately on him. Even so, he has yet to apologize for what had happened.

This acceptance now begs the question: what should be done to the President as punishment to hold him accountable for his decisions that resulted with the unspeakable loss now suffered not only by the families of the perished officers, but also the entire nation?

 Should he be allowed to attempt regaining the people’s trust, or should he be subjected to an impeachment trial?

Government's Rehab Program for Yolanda

Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda was recorded by world meteorologists as the strongest storm.

It has been a year....it devastated portions of Central Philippines, on November 8, 2013.

Recently, the people from Leyte offered prayers in the memory of their loss. Survivors of Typhoon Yolanda in this devastated city marks the first anniversary of the killer storm.

Known to be the deadliest Philippine typhoon on record killing about 6,300 people alone. About 4 million went homeless.

Guiuan, Samar, Tanauan, Palo and Tacloban were the most devastated.

Tacloban is one of the hardest hit city. After a year they still struggle rebuilding their homes.

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reportedly released a total of P52 billion to support government relief and rehabilitation efforts in affected provinces.

Also in the news is the strong political conflict which rooted from the issue - President Pnoy is an Aquino and the Tacloban Mayor is a Romualdez.

And that help supposedly to rebuild Tacloban was not provided.

I saw the situation in Tacloban and that support given as seen on TV was not 100% true.

During my stay in Tacloban last September I directly heard personal stories of the people from Tacloban.

According to them, there's really big help but it is not coming from the local government.

Many are disappointed because of the slow response. Plus there are people saying that the true death count is much more than what is recorded.

...that President Aquino choose to bring donations to Palo instead in Tacloban.

...that when President Aquino went to Tacloban he didn't stay that long. He was not sincere to know the real situation.

It is the non-government organizations coming from other countries who are giving them help.

One of the most active NGO's are Tzu Chi Foundation and GMA Foundation.

Local government has provided transitional homes as temporary comfort.

They distributed hectares for relocation, but still the national government shows a lot of deficiencies

It only shows that they have not yet acted on providing permanent houses.

After a year the people needs true help. This is a call to the government to give assistance and forget about the political issues.