The ‘resignation’ of national police chief Alan Purisima was the biggest news these past few days.
It was a bit unexpected if one consider that no one in the government, especially those who are perceived to be close to President Benigno Aquino, has done the honorable thing of quitting even in the face of mounting evidence of incompetence, greed and corruption.
Purisima certainly didn’t offer to resign when the Ombudsman found him liable for graft over complaints that the Philippine National Police entered into an anomalous contract involving gun owners’ courier fees.
Perhaps he didn’t see it fit to quit his post then because the president had time and again indicated that he did not want his “close friend” to leave his side.
After he was suspended, nothing was heard of the PNP chief, that is, until after the January 25 incident when 44 commandos of the Special Action Force were butchered by combined forces of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
Subsequent news items disclosed that it was the suspended Purisima who planned the entire operation, which sacked SAF chief Director Getulio Napenas later confirmed in a press briefing.
Purisima’s involvement in the operation was met with disbelief and anger by relatives of the slain SAF commandos and the public.
It also didn’t sit well with Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and PNP Officer In Charge Deputy Director Gen. Leonardo Espina, who were kept out of the loop on the entire operation.
But more significantly, it puts the actions of Aquino as Commander-In-Chief under intense scrutiny.
People now know that Aquino, in collusion with Purisima, deliberately broke the chain of command in their zeal to capture international terrorist Zulfikli bin-hir or “Marwan” and his Filipino protege Usman Basit.
The SAF succeeded in killing Marwan, but paid a heavy price with their lives. Reports of the lack of coordination among the SAF, the military and the MILF in the conduct of the operation only added salt to the wounds left by the incident.
These revelations triggered a wave of disgust and indignation not only among the relatives of the Fallen 44 and their comrades, but also among the Filipino public.
In fact, as this piece is being written, students, militants, members of civil society and the religious are holding a protest rally in Mendiola to vent their anger against the Aquino government.
In the light of recent events, people can not be faulted if they think that Purisima’s resignation was part of a script to deflect the attention from the embattled Aquino.
They definitely can not be faulted if they think that Purisima did not voluntarily resign, but was forced to quit as an offering to the altar of Aquino’s self-preservation, a gambit to appease the growing anger of the Filipino people against a bungling administration.
On the face of it, the gambit could work, but then, it could backfire on the Palace’s backyard and could spell doom to its present occupant.
And while we are on the subject of gambits and sacrifices, perhaps it would do our country some good if Aquino also sacrifices Cabinet secretaries Dinky Soliman of social welfare, Proceso Alcala of agriculture and Emilio Abaya of transportation.
Letting them go would, hopefully, result in a better, saner future for us Filipinos.
