Suspended sentence one for the books

Sacked Special Action Force (SAF) chief Getulio Napeñas on Friday told the Senate hearing on the Mamasapano fiasco that he didn’t coordinate with the Armed Forces because he didn’t want the operation against Marwan, a Malaysian terrorist whose real name is Zulkifli bin Hir, to fail.

Marwan was the person behind the bombing in Bali years ago that killed more than 200 people, mostly Europeans, and several other bombings in the Philippines.

He was killed in the operation but it was a pyrrhic victory as 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos were killed by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas.

Napeñas, a Mindanao war veteran, said attempts to get Marwan in 2010, 2012 and three times last year all failed because the SAF coordinated with the Armed Forces.

He added that no matter how A-1 the report on Marwan’s location was in previous operations, these all failed because the AFP was informed.

In short, he doesn’t trust the AFP.

Napeñas’ distrust of the AFP speaks volumes about the relationship between our military and the MILF.

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The supposed unholy alliance between the AFP and MILF is reminiscent of the Vietnam War when some generals in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam reportedly had a cozy relationship with the enemy, the North Vietnamese government.

While South Vietnamese soldiers and their American allies were fighting the North Vietnamese regular troops and the Vietcong, some South Vietnam generals were friends with North Vietnam.

In the Mamasapano operation, the military didn’t come to the aid of the SAF troops because of its supposed friendly relations with the MILF.

The military’s reason was that it was not given prior information about the operation.

But they were informed about it when his troops were already in place ready to get Marwan, according to Napeñas, adding that the SAF asked for artillery cover from the AFP, but was turned down.

Disgusting!

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You know why the AFP and the Philippine National Police, to which SAF belongs, are not close to each other?

Because, unlike its predecessor—the Philippine Constabulary (PC)—the PNP is a civilian organization.

The PC was one of the major services of the AFP, but the Cory Aquino Constitution made the PNP separate from the Armed Forces.

The solution to this problem?

Bring back the PC, which has a long and colorful history, as a military organization and make the local police forces civilian in nature.

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Makati Judge Winlove Dumayas convicted for homicide two of the four men who stabbed to death US Marine Maj. George Anikow during a fight near the posh Bel-Air Village in Makati City.

However, they were given suspended sentences.

Any way one looks at it, Anikow was murdered.

One: Four against one was a one-sided fight and that’s superior force, an element of murder.

Two: Security cameras show Anikow running away with the four giving chase.

Three: The four were armed with knives while Anikow was unarmed.

Was the judge a little slow on the uptake? Don’t want to think that money changed hands.