Alternative version, not alternative truth

President Aquino used the words “alternative version of the events” in Mamasapano, and not “alternative truth” when he spoke in last week’s Inquirer forum about the debacle that saw his public approval rating fall to an all-time low.

In the effort to take down Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” 44 police Special Action Force (SAF) commandos were killed, as well as 17 fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and three civilians including a young girl.

The Inquirer mentioned in its Sept. 9 story that Aquino revealed an “alternative truth” was emerging in the Mamasapano debacle. The Inquirer regrets the error.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma pointed out the mistake on Tuesday.

“It is more accurate to use the exact language. He (President Aquino) never used the term ‘alternative truth,’ that there was an alternative truth of the event,” Coloma told the Inquirer by phone.

He said there was a “significant” difference between “alternative truth” and “alternative version of events.”

“The person that the President is, he is honest and is focused on the truth. To say that there is an alternative truth is not even in context because there can only be one truth. If we looked back on what he said, it was ‘an alternative version of events’ that transpired. Then [it means] there could be another narrative but there could be new theories that could be put forward,” Coloma said.

The following are the exact quotes of the President at the Meet Inquirer Multimedia forum held on Sept. 8, when asked by Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc if he had found closure in the Mamasapano incident:

“Do I have closure? I still have quite a number of questions, and there are various agencies of government tasked to ferret out the truth of exactly what happened in its entirety. There is an alternative version of events that happened there, which is undergoing very intense scrutiny. We are looking for witnesses that will prove or disprove certain observations,” Aquino said.

When Magsanoc asked the President if the indictment of those liable for the deaths in Mamasapano would be based on the report of the National Bureau of Investigation under the Department of Justice, he replied:

“There is an alternative version of what transpired, and there is a picture that actually came out in the front page of the Inquirer that posed so many questions, and that is what we want to resolve; however, there is difficulty in getting the witnesses… I would rather not talk too deeply about the specifics because it might really hamper our efforts to get to the truth of this matter—the complete truth.”

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Malacañang press office said that for President Aquino, “finding the truth is a pathway toward attaining the ends of justice.”

Coloma, however, declined to elaborate when asked about the claims that a “Caucasian” was among the fatalities in Mamasapano. He said he had no direct information on this report.—With a report from Jerry E. Esplanada