Archbishop Cruz: Apology the least that PNoy can do for SAF 44 kin

For a ranking member of the Church, President Benigno Aquino III's lack of apology over the Mamasapano clash where more than 60 were killed in a police operation is nothing new.

 

According to Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, a persistent critic of the Aquino administration, the president is a “very incompetent felow” for not apologizing over the bloody incident where 44 police commandos died, 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters, and five civilians died.

 

“He is not a bad man, but he is a very incompetent fellow. He does not even know how to apologize,” Cruz said in a radio interview on Thursday.

 

Cruz who is the former head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said an apology is the least Aquino can do to console the families of the victims.

 

“It is a little consolation, although it is not enough. It is worst if you don’t even apologize. An apology will not suffice or will return the lives lost, but at least it is a consoling gesture,” he said.

 

Cruz also cited the 2010 Manila hostage crisis in Luneta where eight Hong Kong nationals were killed in a botched rescue attempt.

 

Cruz, a member of the Noynoy Out Now movement that is calling for the president's ouster and replacement by a council, recalled that Aquino was adamant in not issuing an apology to Hong Kong over the tragic incident.

Apologize, Aquino urged

 

Earlier, some political personalities including Senator Sergio Osmeña III, former Senator Panfilo Lacson and former President Fidel Ramos called for Aquino to take responsibility for the deaths and to apologize.

Ramos said apologizing will help ease pressure on the Aquino administration. “What is so difficult about that?” he said.

“It won't make you less of a man kung mag assume ka ng responsibility even kung alam mong mayroong kang pagkukulang, mag sorry [ka lang]. Wala namang masama doon,” Lacson, a former PNP chief, said.

Meanwhile, Osmeña said earlier this month that “very forgiving ang Pilipino, napaka forgiving [pero] yung Mamasapano talagang nawala ang tiwala ng majority of the Filipino people, so alam mo sometimes those things become a permanent drop in your approval ratings.”
 

The calls for the president to apologize gained traction after the Senate inquiry released their report of the Mamasapano clash on Tuesday and pinned Aquino as “ultimately responsible” for the incident.


The Palace has defended the president, saying he has taken responsibility for the Mamasapano operation. 

"[An apology] is something that we have yet to discuss with him… We had discussions with him yesterday but none touching on the call for him to issue an apology over it. None so far,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said Wednesday. — Andrei Medina/JDS, GMA News