House ally accuses Aquino of 'brazen cover-up'
'This man knows nothing of command responsibility or of honor,' Akbayan Representative Walden Bello says of the President
ALLIES NO MORE? Akbayan Representative Walden Bello says he is 'strongly inclined' to withdraw his support for President Benigno Aquino III. Photo by Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – "This is the latest development in the shrinking of the man from a credible president to a small-minded bureaucrat."
A political ally of President Benigno Aquino III posted this on Facebook on Tuesday, March 10, a day after Aquino attacked and blamed former police Special Action Force (SAF) Commander Getulio Napeñas for the Mamasapano tragedy that killed 44 elite cops, 18 Moro rebels and 3 civilians.
In his Facebook post, Akbayan Representative Walden Bello slammed the President for engaging in a "brazen cover-up" of his responsibility over the Mamasapano tragedy. (FULL TEXT: 'Binola ako' ni Napeñas – Aquino)
"Mamasapano is a deadly acid eating at the presidency. Now the President is engaging in a brazen cover-up of his responsibility and that of his trusted aide Purisima for the tragic SAF mission and placing all blame on the ground commander Napeñas," Bello said.
"This is the latest development in the shrinking of the man from a credible president to a small-minded bureaucrat trying desperately to erase his fingerprints from a failed project to save his own ass. This man knows nothing of command responsibility or of honor," he added.
Akbayan's stand
Akbayan coalesced with Aquino's Liberal Party in the 2010 presidential elections and is part of the ruling coalition. At least 3 senior Akbayan leaders work in government: Commission on Human Rights chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales, Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas, and National Anti-Poverty Commission head Joel Rocamora.
Akbayan distanced itself from Bello's statements on Tuesday. The party said it did not share Bello's opinion, stressing that it continues to support the President.
Bello conceded that his statements against Aquino over Mamasapano are not necessarily shared by the party.
In a phone interview with Rappler, Bello said Aquino's statements on Monday, March 9, were "disturbing" and "shocking."
"The first thing that a chief of state, a head of state does is to take command responsibility for an operation he gave approval for, no matter what happened to it. This guy is trying to wiggle out of his responsibility and is hoisting that to a subordinate," Bello said.
Withdrawing support?
"This is not at all a presidential kind of behavior and in fact, it is something that is extremely disappointing and, of course, makes one very angry. And I have lost all expectations regarding what would be the President's behavior in instances such as this," he added.
The party-list lawmaker said he is "seriously considering" withdrawing his support from the President.
"I am strongly inclined to withdraw my support from the President but that decision – that is the decision that I have to seriously seriously think about," Bello said.
This is not the first time that Bello had spoken out against the President. They used to be "textmates."
The friendship faced rough sailing after Bello earned the President's irein November 2014 when he criticized the administration's controversial pump-prime scheme known as the Disbursement Acceleration Programand called for the resignation of key Cabinet members.
Aquino called key Akbayan leaders to a meeting after this and advised them to toe the administration line.
Asked to comment on Bello's statements back then, Aquino "dared" the lawmaker to run for president in 2016 since he had "so many complaints" about the administration.
BOI report delay
Kabataan Representative Terry Ridon, a member of the leftist Makabayan bloc in the House, said Aquino should come clean with his real role in Operation Exodus and "stop fooling" the Filipino people.
“If there’s a mambobola around, it’s President Aquino. He’s saying to us that Napeñas’ poor judgment and direction made Operation Exodus a ‘mission impossible.’ Yet at the end of the day, we have to return the question: who greenlighted the mission? Who authorized the offensive? Napeñas cannot issue commands without delegated authority from his superiors. And Aquino as commander-in-chief is ultimately responsible,” Ridon said in a statement.
Addressing religious leaders on Monday, Aquino categorically blamed Napeñas for the Mamasapano incident. He said Napeñas did not follow his orders to cooperate with the military and gave him inaccurate information about the what was happening on the ground, among others. (READ: Aquino: Napeñas 'tricked me' on Mamasapano)
The President gave the statement on the day the Board of Inquiry (BOI) investigating the probe was supposedto submit its report.
Valenzuela City 1st district Representative Sherwin Gatchalian of the Nationalist People's Coalition said further delays could raise more questions on the credibility of the report.
“The first deadline was on February 26, which was extended to March 6, and again extended to March 9. We don’t know when the next deadline will be but the more the BOI delays its report, the more it will fuel speculations that a cover-up is in-the-making,” said Gatchalian. – Rappler.com
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