Mamasapano Incident in the South:
It has been a while now since the
mainstream media brought us news from the south whereby 44 members of the
Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were
slaughtered in a clash initially guised as a “misencounter” with the joint
forces of Muslim rebels, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro
Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), but was actually a result (or casualty) of an
operation called Oplan Exodus which aims to capture two of US’s most wanted
terrorists namely Zulkifli Abdhir (alias Marwan) and Abdul Basit Usman. Both of
whom are believed to be an affiliate to Jemaah Islamiyah, who are also both
high-ranking and improvised explosives experts.
The said operation was in an alleged
operation with the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation and Army Special Forces
which took place in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 25, 2015,
Sunday. The result of which led to the death of a total of 62 individuals, 44
of which coming from the government’s Special Action Force.
Who is to
blame?
Although skirmishes such as this
“incident” is not uncommon in a predominantly Muslim south since the birth of
the Muslim rebellion, whose issue is present to this day. The clash, now deemed
as the “Mamasapano Incident,” is something that may not have existed if not for
the recklessness that may have started from our very own government’s higher
ups themselves, with special mention of the Command-in-Chief, which also
happens to be the President. This is in consideriation to the fact that there was
and is an ongoing peace process between the government itself and the Muslim
rebels in an attempt to settle a dispute that lasted for generations, and
possibly generations more, if not settled.
This ongoing war between the
government and the Muslim rebels has benefited no one thus far but rather only costed
the lives of many brave individuals whose only difference is the principles
they believed in and are fighting for.
The
Inviolable Chain-of-Command
There is a reason as to why our
systems work under the design of a chain of command: that is to ensure a
streamline flow of orders and execution whose powers of authority are coming
from the top to the bottom, which, in our present-day context is shouldered primarily
by the president, Ninoy Aquino – the top power of this so-called chain of
command – and the lower units of power, Mar Roxas, et al. This is not a
government held in power by a single individual, however. Our government is
designed in such a way that it is composed of “powers-of-authority” other than
the president whose existences are there for a reason: that is, to provide
additional heads of authority together with the higher-most but whose power
structure is set in a hierarchy. Basically, every powers from up-down structure
of the government must be in full coordination with one another, not just in a secrecy
of few, and is basically the essence of the chain-of-command which has been the
power structure that has been in govern to us since the very first government
was founded and began. It is not without its flaws, however, yet is something that
has worked well thus far.
Alas, however, in an apparent show
of improper coordination of those figures within the chain-of-command, an
“incident” occured that has costed of not only few, but 62 valuable lives, especially
to those families they left behind, whose occurence may have been prevented if
proper execution of the chain-of-command has been practiced. Who really is to
blame at this point? The figures within the chain-of-command, of course.
