UNA strike 2: Aquino not telling whole truth

MANILA, Philippines—The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) party of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Friday stopped pulling its punches in criticizing President Benigno Aquino III over the Mamasapano debacle, insinuating that he was not telling the whole truth about the Jan. 25 counterterrorism operation that cost the lives of 44 police commandos.

“So all along the President wasn’t telling the whole truth about Mamasapano?” UNA interim president Toby Tiangco said in reaction to a statement by Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. that Mr. Aquino would “tell all at the right time.”

It was the second time in a week that UNA openly criticized the Aquino administration over the Mamasapano clash, and the first time that Mr. Aquino himself was the target.

Tiangco said Coloma’s statement was a “direct admission” that the President did not tell the truth in the two televised addresses he made after the tragic Special Action Force (SAF) operation to take down international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” and his Filipino deputy, Basit Usman.

“There is no such thing as the truth at the right time. The truth has to be told now,” Tiangco, the Navotas representative, said in a statement.