Militants to continue calls for Noy to resign

MANILA, Philippines - Calls for President Aquino to step down from office are far from over.

After a video leaked proving that Aquino knew of the Mamasapano operation, the militant group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) yesterday pressed anew for his immediate resignation.

Members of KMU and other militant groups are holding another protest action on Sunday to press for the resignation of Aquino.

KMU chair Elmer Labog said the people need more than an apology from the President for the death of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) officers last January.

Labog said the Chief Executive should accept responsibility for the deaths of the SAF policemen and resign from the presidency.

Aquino’s resignation, he said, is even more justified after a video was leaked showing relieved SAF director Getulio Napeñas Jr. admitting that Aquino knew of the operation and that the Armed Forces would only be informed “time on target.”

“If Aquino would accept responsibility for what happened in Mamasapano, he should not only apologize but actually resign. The number of Filipinos who died, the violations of the law committed, and the lies spread about the operation warrant nothing less,” Labog stressed.

He then criticized presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda for claiming that there is no need for Aquino to apologize.

“The huge number of people who died shows that the error lies on the policy level, not on the level of implementation. A bloodbath ensued because the plan was to kill a suspected terrorist in a place where there are many armed groups, and Aquino is responsible,” he explained.

Labog said Aquino should also be held liable for violating the 1987 Constitution’s prohibition against the participation of foreign troops in military operations in the country, the Philippine National Police’s chain of command in making then-suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima head of the operation, and the government’s peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“If Aquino truly has a sense of honor, then he should resign, and not only apologize. A mere apology won’t be acceptable to workers and Filipinos as it would make light of the lives of the many Filipinos who died in Mamasapano,” Labog said.  

Treason vs Noy

Lawyer Homobono Adaza and columnist Herman Tiu Laurel yesterday filed treason charges against Aquino before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly pushing for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law in Congress.

Also named respondents to the case were Senate President Franklin Drilon, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles, and government peace panel chair Miriam Ferrer.

Likewise charged were Murad Ebrahim, Mohagher Iqbal and Ghazali Jaafar as MILF ranking officials.

Adaza and Laurel said they filed the complaint as Filipinos who are “concerned with the dangerous drift of the country due to failure of leadership and treasonous and incompetent behavior of many of our national leaders and public officials.”

They said they are lodging the criminal charge because of the President’s act of entering into an agreement with the MILF.

Adaza and Laurel said the rest of the respondents and other John Does conspired with the Chief Executive in pushing for an unconstitutional deal.

They noted that former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also entered into an agreement with the MILF to cede part of the Philippine territory to the group, to grant it powers of sovereignty and to create for it new institutions anathema to the Constitution.

“Undaunted by the issues of constitutionality and continuing death and destruction in many areas of the country as a result of criminal and treasonous activities of these insurgent groups, the administration of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III and his respondent co-conspirators have entered into a recent agreement with the MILF granting it the same territory, more powers and more new institutions,” the complainants alleged. – With Michael Punongbayan