If there’s anyone whom President Benigno Aquino III owes an apology to, it’s first and foremost to the families of the 44 Special Action Forces (SAF) police commandos who died in the line of duty in the Mamasapano massacre.
Did he actually apologize to the families? One report quoted the President as telling the families that his father, the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr. also died for the country and that now “patas na tayo (we are even).”
That didn’t sound very empathetic or “presidential” as former president Fidel V. Ramos would say.
Our stoic President does need pointers in showing sincere sympathy. Perhaps his emotional quotient (EQ) needs a boost.
Ramos called on Aquino to apologize to the Filipino people for botching what was supposed to be a quiet, efficient operation to either arrest or eliminate Indonesian bomb-maker Zulkifli Abdhir otherwise known as Marwan.
Aquino was bitterly criticized for skipping the airport arrival of the remains of the SAF commandos in favor of the inauguration of a car manufacturing plant.
But he did make up for it in spending almost 12 hours in the vigil later, listening to each family pour out their grief and demand for justice for their slain loved ones.
It’s been more than a month since that dark day and sentiment is riding high against the Aquino administration’s push for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law with the families and the public demanding that justice be served for the deaths of the SAF commandos.
An apology may be in order, but what does this really do?
Ramos cited former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s apology as something that Aquino should supposedly do.
But remember how that infamous apology for the so-called “Garci” scandal cost her credibility. Arroyo’s wooden smile contradicted whatever appearance of regret that she may have expressed seconds before.
Aquino’s apology has to be sincere and appear so for it to be worthwhile. Otherwise it would just boomerang.
Surveys indicate that many Filipinos are waiting for him to akcnowledge the terrible blunders that have been documented and officially reported in investigation reports of the PNP and the Senate.
Unless this comes from the President, the state of limbo after Mamasapano will continue and won’t bring closure to the deaths of the 44 fallen SAF commandos.
At this late state, an apology may invite more mocking comments and fuel an impeachment drive. But that doesn’t mean the President should not acknowledge his shortcomings, his failure for allowing his friend former PNP chief Alan
Purisima to hijack an operation that eventually ended in so much loss of lives.
Yes, the President should admit his faults. Apologize? Only if he means it and if he truly shows it.
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