Topic: 44 Police for 1 International Terrorist... Is it Worth it??

[burnhito]

During the necrological service given to the 44 SAF members, SAF OIC Noli Talino asked "Is it worth it?" “One international terrorist is equivalent to 44 SAF troopers I’m sure that if you will ask them (44 SAF member) – "It is worth it." "More lives would be saved with Marwan gone and we believe our motto: Tagapagligtas.”  he added.

SAF units are one of elite forces of our country together with NAVSOG and MUSANG. This unit are not regular force they are chosen from hundreds of recruits after a hard training course and only called for special operations. This units are so well-trained that a single unit can accomplish an operation that a battalion or few units can normally accomplish. That's why it's a heavy loss to the PNP.

As a Filipino taxpayer point of view, I need to know why one of  the best units protecting me where killed. Are they not well equipped or trained? Are they incompetent or unprepared? Is the other department are like this also??

Is it worth it?

I hate to state this but personally in my own opinion, NO its not... Ano to pakunswelo de bobo?
It's like trading a 44 healthy cows for a single chicken. I might be throwing some metaphor here but you do the math. If this SAF officer have this kind of mentality that our ELITE Units are expendables for the sake of killing 1 terrorist for the sake of the people then it will surely happened again. It is easy for Talino to say this on behalf of the 44 fallen men because his not the one inside those coffins. As the idiom says "Deadmen tell no tales." but is this what they(44 SAF) wanted to say. Some of you might disagree because this are the things that SAF trained to do or any police, military, navy and air force. It is their duty to serve and protect. But who will protect them from egoistic, self-serving, self-driven and incompentent commanders, from hidden motives of corrupt politicians?? I will not talk politics or any corruption here.  [sorry...  ]

Benefits and compensations are given to the family of this fallen Heroes. All of this media attention on their bravery and courage. I believed they truly deserved it. But putting those topics aside. I'm trying to find and search any news and articles about the truth, what really happened, what went wrong, who is/are to blame. Is it poor planning? Is it SAF's fault? Is it the government, MILF, or BIFF's fault? I want to know why this ELITE units, the units that their family mourns, the people that government trained, this skilled units, and fought for more than 10 hours did not received any reinforcement. I read and watched news about the ground reinforcement only reached them mid-afternoon and it was already too late. Why?? Wala ba tayong helicopter para sa air support para malaman kung ano ang exact coordinates ng tropa natin para ma-artillery fire ang kalaban kung walang bala ang mga baril ng helicopter natin? 10 hours is enough to scramble heavy tanks (not those light amphibious tank) to bust their way in if they're having a hard time penetrating the battle zone.

They are not even accompanied by any tanks or air support during their deployment. They say its a covert-ops, so few people know. Then why send 390+ SAF if its a covert-ops(I think it's an overkill for a such operation and compromise the secrecy), why there are no mobile or air force on standby for the extraction. Even the WESTCOM was surprised that there was a such operation happening, that's why they could not give any artillery support because they don't have any exact grid coordinates of the SAF forces during encounter(possible friendly-fire). Are there no communication between PNP and Philippine Military during this operation or did the PNP acted alone. All I thought that in any covert-ops, every department of AFP are informed. Or maybe I just watch too much action films. I hope all this queries will have answer soon so that JUSTICE shall be served.

Just a piece of my nutshell

[Idiot]

in my point of view it is worth it

a tune of 5million dollars or 200million pesos reward money can make anyone involve a instant millionaire an pursue an early retirement to the service maybe the reason why they did not coordinate with the military baka makihati pa sila

even my classmate from the PNP said they were highly trained individual and he was puzzled what happen

[katomokII]

I believe you covered all your queries and questions with the opening statement you put here TS.  You said, if you ask the 44 SAF members, they would say it was well worth it.  And I agree with you with that.  They would say exactly that, "It was well worth it."  In this day and age where we hear on a daily basis about, corrupt politicians, dirty cops, scalawag military members, its refreshing (although quite saddening) to hear that the Great Republic of the Philippines still has dedicated sons and daughters who would fight to keep her free. 

The sacrifice that (I will copy a term you use kapatid TS) these Heroes along with their families will unfortunately be forgotten as soon as another celebrity leaks another sex video, or a corrupt politician goes to jail, or a big name foreign artist comes to perform in the Philippines.  This is part of the never ending war on terrorism.  Good people not merely hoping that things will get better. Rather they take it upon themselves and do something to try and make things better.  Committing themselves to very difficult training and putting theirselves in harms way in order to protect a priceless, unseen, but very difficult to maintain human need called Freedom.  Unfortunately the price of Freedom is not free and in fact at times comes in very hefty price.  For that, I salute the SAF Members and their families for paying a price for all of us. So we can continue to enjoy FREEDOM.  To all  uniformed members ditto sa tahanan natin, Please accept the heartfelt appreciation for your service and sacrifice of an aging retiree.  Please keep fighting the good fight.  God Bless.

[burnhito]

in my point of view it is worth it

a tune of 5million dollars or 200million pesos reward money can make anyone involve a instant millionaire an pursue an early retirement to the service maybe the reason why they did not coordinate with the military baka makihati pa sila

even my classmate from the PNP said they were highly trained individual and he was puzzled what happen

I don't think they are allowed to take or claim any reward money for any wanted criminals that they arrested or killed. It's their responsibility.

And to Sir katomokII, it's your opinion and I respect it.

But then again I still affirm my opinion regarding SAF-OIC Noli Talino necrological statement. It's not worth it because I know that they could have done more to save those 44 lives. During the planning, before deployment and during the encounter they have a lot of time to save those lives. Imagine more than 10 hours of fighting more than 400 rebels, those brave men stood their ground until their ammos run out, waiting for reinforcements.
Forgive me but ITS FULL OF BULLCRAP!!! They could have done more much more. I think Talino was foolish to say those words on behalf of his fallen men in front of their grieving families. No family will compare their love one's life to a murderer.

At sasabihin na lang na "... 44 men for 1 international terrorist... is worth it" gumawa pa ng pakunswelo de bobo. Hindi ito laro na sasabihin mo na ok lang na hindi champion atleast naka silver ako.
Those men can't answer that question. They are dead. SAF-OIC Noli Talino is only putting those words on his dead men's mouth.  Then I believed also that those men will say "No, Its Not worth it... we could have done more a lot more, we could ave much more lives if we're still alive."
It's not worth it because if they plan it properly those 44 lives will still be alive, still serving the people and can capture more terrorists or criminals which can save much more lives. If that is the mentality of our military leaders, that its ok to sacrifice 44 life for a single terrorist then this tragedy will repeat itself. Those leaders will continue to make covert-operations with flaws and poor planning, and if that operation failed scapegoats, pointing fingers and another statement that says " at least we get 1 terrorist" and for what for another 10, 20 or 30 lives of our men. This was not the first time that this kind of things happened before. IT happened in the past. And those military leaders and nation leaders never learned.
 
Sorry for my stern opinion on this topic but just another piece of my nutshell...

[BlueAlphaZero]

SAF-OIC Noli Talino is only putting those words on his dead men's mouth.  Then I believed also that those men will say "No, Its Not worth it... we could have done more a lot more, we could ave much more lives if we're still alive."

Doesn't the statement I emphasized above also count as putting words in dead men's mouths?

[juan pablo]

Doesn't the statement I emphasized above also count as putting words in dead men's mouths?

I think that was his intention, he was saying that if SAF-OIC Noli Talino can speak on behalf of his (dead) men, then he (@burnhito) can also do it. Which basically means that any of us can assume what those men want to say but it really doesn't matter at this point because they are already dead.

It's not worth it because if they plan it properly those 44 lives will still be alive, still serving the people and can capture more terrorists or criminals which can save much more lives. If that is the mentality of our military leaders, that its ok to sacrifice 44 life for a single terrorist then this tragedy will repeat itself. Those leaders will continue to make covert-operations with flaws and poor planning, and if that operation failed scapegoats, pointing fingers and another statement that says " at least we get 1 terrorist" and for what for another 10, 20 or 30 lives of our men. This was not the first time that this kind of things happened before. IT happened in the past. And those military leaders and nation leaders never learned.

While better planning would have increased the probability that those 44 men will still be alive or at least a decrease in casualties, not everything will go according to plan every time. I am not saying that it was a well planned operation though.

[clark.kent]

as of now, there is no point in arguing on what should've, would've or could've happend. I can't say i agree with you along the context of your opinion, but i do agree that this 44 are not worth the life of 1 terrorist. If this would've been a normal operation, the Army was supposed to assist anytime. instead, they got caught flat-footed costing the lives of this 44 brave men.

I can say though that this men did us a favor and save a lot of innocents from the carnage of this 1 crazed lunatic jihadist. You only need 1 of this crazies to kill hundreds or even thousands of civilians, which may include 1 or 2 of our family members, from being a statistic.

If this was a smooth operation, this 44 brave soldiers would either be alive, or at least, injured but not dead. They have no intention of being sacrificed but they did go out fighting and they took 1 target with them, along with 8 MILF's. The dead count may be against us, but the SAVED innocents is definitely with us. Just my take. I always take things positively.