“It is always sweet to die for this country” are the brave words from PNP OIC Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina whose impassioned speech seeking justice for his slain men brought tears to many people’s eyes.
Afterwards, Special Action Force (SAF) chief Police Director Getulio Napeñas approached Espina, wiping tears from his eyes.
Why was Espina Emotional?
If you had followed the reports regarding the Mamasapano clash, then you would understand why Espina is very emotional about what happened. Yes, there might have been some lack of coordination from their end and they did not ask permission from the MILF to enter the turf [but why would they ask permission from this bandit group, anyway? So they could hide Marwan???] but the overkill that followed was just too much.
Espina recounted three medico-legal reports showing how the SAF men did not really have fatal wounds at first, yet the rebel group removed their bulletproof vests and shot them at close range. Some of the fallen 44 had short-range wounds on their heads while others had bodies battered with a barrage of shots which tattered their bodies so that their caskets have to remain closed to prevent their families from seeing the horror of their deaths.
Watch Espina’s impassioned speech here:
Successful Operation?
Was the operation successful? It depends on how you define a successful operation.
The goal of the Mamasapano operation was to extract Marwan – dead or alive. So, based on this goal, the operation was a huge success because DNA results from the FBI confirmed that the samples taken from the clash site had been from Marwan.
Now, despite this part of the operation being a huge success, forty four SAF men perished in the operation. It is the deaths of these fallen 44 that made the operation “unsuccessful” in the eyes of many people who are now seeking justice for their deaths.
Some are calling for war against these insurgents yet many also believe the authorities should honor the peace process.
So, what happens next? Will there be war or would this thing go hush hush and buried after a new controversial issue arrives?
One thing is for sure, Espina and the rest of the police force are surely going to seek justice for the overkill of their men. We’re hoping, though, that they won’t simply just go to war and lose more of their men in the battlefield…But we also cry for Justice for the Fallen 44!