Because Malacañang gave a rejoinder the other day.
Palace spokespersons stressed that : The President had already said (in an early speech, after he skipped the arrival honors) that he was responsible for the Mamasapano operation.
To be fair: Yes, he said something to the effect that “bilang ama ng bayan… dadalhin ko buong buhay ko ang nangyaring ito”, or some such statement (roughly, “i would carry with me throughout my life, with a heavy heart, the fact that many died in this operation…”).
Yes, he did say that.
In about three lines of his third prepared speech.
In contrast however, in ALL his other statements, messages, and speeches he blamed Napeñas (in a private meeting with legislators, he blamed Purisima).
About 80 per cent of the time, it was:
Napeñas, Napeñas, Napeñas,
and 10 per cent of the time:
Purisima.
If you want to be empirical about this, you could commission a couple of students to make a content- analysis, quantitative and qualitative, and pictograph the data for Malacañang’s appreciation. (Just give a mini-grant for the trouble of making a line-by-line analysis of all the nationwide televised addresses, dialogs, interviews, speeches.)
Or you could just examine the Pulse Asia poll where 8 out of 10 Filipinos said that they were not satisfied with PNoy’s explanation for the deadly and deathly Mamasapano operation.
Sure, the President could detail the operational mistakes of Purisima and Napeñas.
But the intent people are looking for, in words and in decisive action — a standard line of many world-class leaders who have the courage to own up to their decisions, is: “I take full responsibility for this…i take full responsibility ” (to begin and end every message he makes where he might detail the mistakes of his subordinates).
(my nephew is even more forthright when he corrects errors without being prodded by a Board of Inquiry: “My bad. Here it is.” ) That’s it, tapós, end of story.
(original by Britney Spears, reinterpreted here by the millennial kids in Glee), is dedicated to the President (PNoy), but unlike Britney Spears, with the exercise of prerogative comes the duty to account by the executive —
in an earlier post, this site pointed out that the President had the prerogative of choosing the means, method, men and women to implement the “law-enforcement” operation, Oplan Exodus (formerly Oplan Wolverine) (“service of a warrant of arrest on Marwan) as Chief Executive BUT HE SHOULD OWN UP TO ITS CONSEQUENCES. Apparently, after the BOI report came out, the President’s Cabinet members (the DOJ Secretary, the Palace spokerpersons, et al) are using this line – well, half of this line: that it was the President’s prerogative as Chief Executive to mobilize any of his subordinates for the special operation. It’s half of the principle: IF THE PRESIDENT IS TO INVOKE HIS PREROGATIVE, HE SHOULD BE PREPARED TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF EXERCISING THAT PREROGATIVE, i.e., be prepared to face the public whatever the consequences are. The President has shirked: it’s Napeñas, Napeñas,Napeñas (repeat 3X until you have a song). You can’t have your cake and eat your bibingka too. (presidential sister Kris Aquino, in answering why she was not running for public office in 2016, disclosed on TV that the family was preparing for a slew of lawsuits against PNoy after his term — You don’t have a good legal team if you think you have criminal liability when you greenlighted this operation — sa tingin mo ba, illegal ginawa mo).
