IT looks like the President’s men are grappling with the issue of controlling the damage wrought by recent controversies that have rocked Malacañang and in finding ways to extricate their boss from his defensive box.
Now on the “offense is the best defense” mode, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II dismissed these hideous events as nothing but an attempt to destabilize the present dispensation.
Of these controversies, nothing can be more appalling than the murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo right inside the heretofore hallowed grounds of Camp Crame. That the crime was perpetrated by rogue elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in kidnap-for-ransom activities, while using the war on drugs as a cover, makes it even more nauseating.
No sooner had the news exploded in traditional and social media, President Duterte visited the widowed families of the 44 slain members of the PNP’s elite unit, the Special Action Force (SAF), who were “massacred” in an encounter with the Moro Islamic Liberation Force (MILF), the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and other Muslim bandits’ groups in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
Codenamed Oplan Exodus, the operation was intended to capture or kill wanted Malaysian terrorist and bomb-maker Zulkifli Abdhir and other Malaysian terrorists or high-ranking members of the BIFF. The operation was launched in the wee hours of the morning of January 25 last year. It led to the death of 44 SAF operatives, 18 from the MILF and the BIFF, and five civilians, and that of Abdhir as confirmed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The mission was declared a success in having neutralized Abdhir, but came at a heavy price. The subsequent firefight was believed to be a tactical victory for the MILF forces against the PNP SAF.
Duterte wasted no time in hitting former President Benigno S. Aquino III, demanding for him to come clean and explain his part in the unfortunate encounter.
But the Mamasapano episode and the South Korean murder are miles apart in magnitude and complexion. The former was a legitimate operation, only tainted by operational lapses by ground operatives, while the latter was a blatant crime committed by the police, whom Duterte virtually clothed with immunity by declaring his ironclad support for them in the name of the war on drugs.
This early, Aguirre is already casting doubts on the veracity of the investigation carried out by the police, saying the evidence against the main suspect, policeman Ricky Sta. Isabel, may have been planted.
I view the government’s posturing as a diversionary tactic that, along with dividing the nation, is defining the Duterte governance. The President is seen here and in the international community as abhorring dissent. He could not let the day pass by without cursing and labeling those who criticize him as “yellowed”, since yellow is the color associated with the Liberal Party now led by Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo.
But if Duterte raised the issue of command responsibility in Aquino’s role in Mamasapano, shouldn’t he accept the same burden for the Korean’s murder in Camp Crame?
The Korean’s murder couldn’t be just swept under the rug. The international community is keenly watching for developments in the case. This is one issue that the Duterte administration is hard put to sanitize. At stake here is how the government can convince foreign businessmen that the country is a safe place to park their funds in, without being harassed and made to cough up millions in what are considered police-led kidnap-for-ransom activities. How the government can convince them that the State can protect them is something that diverting the issue cannot mask.
South Korea is currently a major trading partner of the Philippines. It has been one of the top senders of visitors to the country, with more than half a million arrivals yearly. It also ranks sixth among the Philippines’s bilateral trade partners.
South Korea has also committed more investments and has even vowed to help perk up our country’s investment climate, most especially in the utilization of our natural- resource endowments. Philippine economic diplomacy could also encourage more Korean investments, but these have to be paved with sound infrastructure and improved investment climate in the country.
With the horrendous murder of one of its citizens here, all these enhancements could be put on hold.
A dead rat, no matter how its corpse is kept hidden, would lead us to where it is by its overwhelming stench.
For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com.