SHOULD President Aquino resign from office, as called for by Retired Cardinal Ricardo Vidal and five Catholic bishops and the mainstream Left in the wake of the January 25 Mamasapano incident where 44 PNP Special Action Forces (SAF) were killed by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MIFF) and its breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF)?
I don’t think so.
From where I sit, what PNoy should do is to assume full responsibility for the debacle, on the basis of command responsibility. After all, he is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the Philippine National Police apart from being the Chief Executive.
While sacked SAF chief Police Director Getulio Napeñas has publicly admitted that he is responsible for the what happened at Mamasapano, it strains credulity for him to do so particularly in light of allegations that then suspended and now resigned PNP chief Alan Purisima actually called the shots in the whole operation, with the full backing of PNoy himself.
What PNoy should do at this point is to clear the air and concede that he was on top of the whole operation from Day One, but that he failed to coordinate properly with the military in what was a perfectly legitimate operation against two most wanted terrorists.
What we have been seeing in the past three weeks from Palace spokesmen is a crude and clumsy attempt at cover-up of PNoy’s actual role in Mamasapano.
If the President knew about the ongoing operation on the morning of January 25 but left it to the SAF chief to make the crucial decisions, then he should admit his lapse in judgment and say that he is willing to face the consequences of his actions, whether constitutional or legal, but emphasize that he would turn over the reins of office to his successor after the May 2016 elections.
That’s the statesmanlike thing to do.
Asean legal experts to hold Manila meeting
AN association of lawyers, judges, and justices from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will hold its general assembly in Manila this month, and is set to make a courtesy call on President Benigno Aquino III, parallel to the holding of events that include workshops for Filipino lawyers.
This according to Avelino Cruz, regional vice-president of the Asean Law Association (ALA) and president of ALA Philippines, who announced that the Asean chief justices and select ALA officials will visit Malacañang Palace on February 27, the third day of the association’s 4-day 12th General Assembly (GA).
ALA Philippines, where Cruz is also chairman of its National Committee, has worked closely with the preparations of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as host for the summit meeting of all Asean chief justices, to be held in the world-famous island of Boracay on March 1 to 2, and who will converge in Manila for the ALA GA at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.
The separate meetings on Boracay are on track, and will be attended not only by ALA officials and delegates as guests but also by members of the Philippine Supreme Court, the High Tribunal’s Zaldy Trespeses said.
Michael Toledo, chairman of the Standing Committee on Legal Information of ALA Philippines, stressed the importance of the Asean economic integration, saying that bureaucracy must be trimmed for the free flow of goods, services, and capital among the member-states.
“If you want to stimulate a level playing field, remove the red tape and promote transparency,” asserted Toledo, who also heads the media bureau of the MVP group of companies and is senior vice-president for corporate affairs at Philex Mining Corp. “It may not even be a question about competition policy and law, but about good governance.”
Cruz said the preparations for the February 25 to 28 general assembly of ALA, founded in 1979 and will meet here in Manila for the first time since 1995, are complete, including the holding of six workshops, with the conference theme “Sharing Prosperity at the Crossroads of Asean Integration—the Legal Challenges.”
Thus, the workshops will address, among other things, the legal implications on the Asean integration of cross-border practices and commercial laws of the Asean legal community, as well as such fundamentals as commercial arbitration, free access to courts, and the rights of citizens to justice within the Asean countries.
Touching on all subjects of the mandatory continuing legal education for Filipino lawyers, the workshops are on legal profession, alternative dispute resolution, international law, business law, trade and investment and legal education. The paper writers and chairmen of these workshops will come from the 10 Asean countries.
Indonesia’s Chief Justice Hatta Ali, the incumbent ALA president, and ALA Secretary-General Swandy Halim have said that preparations of all delegates from the nine other countries who will travel to Manila for the GA are on high gear, and will be ready for the opening day on February 26.
The presidency of ALA, designated in the Asean Charter of 2007 as the regional bloc’s only civil society affiliate for law, rotates among the member-nations every three years. Cruz was nominated January 26 by the ALA Philippine National Committee for the position of incoming president of ALA.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.
5 comments
As Congressman Martin Romualdez said.. Pnoy should take the responsibility since he is the Commander in Chief.
The president don’t know how to say sorry, Mahilig siyang maghugas kamay. Obvious naman na siya ang may kasalanan sa pagkamatay ng mga pulis.
Kung nagtagumpay ang operasyon siguradong taas noo si Panot, hehehe
Aba siyempre ! E kaso ngayon pumalpak, kaya todo tanggi siya. Kawawa naman ang mga namatay at mga pamilya nila.
Justice should be serve to all SAF members, Huwag sanang balewalain ang sakripisyo nila.