January 29th, 12:25am January 28th, 8:49pm TDTWithout Fear Without Favor

It was President Rody Duterte who provided the best window to the indecisive and incompetent yellow partnership of former President Noynoy Aquino and his alter ego Mar Roxas in action during moments of crisis.

The recent bombing of a cathedral during a Sunday Mass that killed at least 18 persons in Jolo, Sulu is being addressed resolutely which was far different during the Mamasapano carnage of 44 young police officers four years ago.

About four investigations – by the Senate, House, Department of Justice and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) – on the incident avoided an interview from Noynoy but who many consider as prime suspect as having called the shots in the botched Oplan Exodus.

Noynoy tried to play up the “success” in neutralizing Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan to downplay the death of the Special Action Force (SAF) 44.

Rody recounted to relatives of the slain troopers in 2017 that he was among those in the contingent of Noynoy in Zamboanga on the day of the encounter between the SAF commandos and rebel groups from the MILF, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and other smaller Islamic armed groups.

Rody, apparently his statement directed at Noynoy, said “Remember that day, I was also in Zamboanga. You arrived there because there was a bombing the previous day or was it that day? But you knew of my presence. You requested Roxas to call the police, to contact me to go to Andrews Air Base. Then you requested me to be brought into the command conference.”

Rody said he knew something had gone horribly wrong based on the looks of the bumbling duo. “A general who was sitting beside me whispered ‘something horrible has happened,’” Rody said.

Rody, who was then Davao City Mayor, asked for a briefing from Noynoy and Roxas on what was really happening, but he was ignored.

He said Noynoy and Roxas were listless and paced the room endlessly, the picture of worry obvious on them.

“Every time that you went out of that room, I could see in your faces – I cannot describe it. I don’t want to insult you, but I could sense that something really, really bad happened,” Rody recalled.

He said that Noynoy then turned to one of the military generals in the room and asked, “If you were there, what would you do?”

Rody remembers being “pissed off” with Noynoy during those hours of indecision, which was the exact time that the SAF troopers were being slaughtered.

The various investigations made on the incident remained inconclusive particularly on who were in actual command of Oplan Exodus.

Noynoy’s version was that the operation was between SAF commander Director Getulio Napeñas and the then suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Alan Purisima and that he was getting piecemeal information from both.

Noynoy’s storyline was that the entire uniformed command was in Zamboanga City to check on a bombing incident that happened a week before Oplan Exodus and Noynoy, his Cabinet and the rest of his contingent were informed of the incident “time on target” when the operation was already happening.

The real purpose of Noynoy likely for being in Zamboanga City was to be available when Marwan is presented dead or alive to him, which would be an international media event on the birthday of his mother, the late President Cory Aquino.

Rody also confirmed that Oplan Exodus was a CIA mission which jibes with the findings of American government involvement in some of the reports on the investigations, but which never identified the CIA.

Noynoy completely denied US involvement in the mission.

“Even before my term, the US has been with our operations. For my part, I communicated with Filipinos. It was the Filipinos who gave me reports and it were the Filipinos who conducted the mission. Even the asset who managed to get close with Marwan is an asset of our government,” Aquino claimed.

Both the PNP-Board of Inquiry and the Senate reports on the incident, however, indicated at least six Americans were at the Oplan Exodus command center.

Noynoy claimed that his only fault during the operation was trusting Napeñas.

Rody’s take, however, was that Noynoy was the President then and that he fed “the soldiers to the lion’s den.”

As for Roxas, he tried to wiggle out of the situation by claiming he was taken “out of the loop” in the mission, which is another incredible lie.

Rody personally witnessed the incompetence and callousness that should never be allowed again to be inflicted on the nation.