One year after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the loved ones of those on board and the general flying public have not come any closer to answers.
The Boeing 777 disappeared last year as it flew a routine, red-eye flight from Malaysia to China. Initial reports say it veered away from its flight path and could have ended somewhere in the Southern Indian Ocean, off the west coast of Australia.
To commemorate the one-year mark, families of the 239 passengers and crew held vigils in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, where the plane was supposed to land, and expressed their frustration that the only new information available is that the battery of the black box locator beacon had expired.
Even the Chinese authorities, normally averse to any form of protest, allowed the families some room to vent their anger at the Malaysian Embassy. It is widely believed that Malaysian officials mishandled the tragedy involving the national carrier.
Who would not empathize with those who are screaming for a basic answer – what exactly happened, and why?
Here at home, for instance, the loved ones of the 44 policemen who perished in January while trying to serve an arrest warrant on a Malaysian terrorist are also desperate for answers. Why did their husbands, sons, brothers have to die and who is ultimately responsible for their deaths?
Several bodies have launched probes into the matter, and the public is expecting at least a couple of reports anytime soon. However, suspicion is rife that there will be attempts to cover up the results of the probes, veering the focus away from the President’s willful violation of the law in entrusting a sensitive operation to a suspended police chief, his prior knowledge of tactical information and decisions directly resulting in the failure of the military to provide timely help.
That, or the President himself may be sabotaging the probe he says would shed light on the matter.
The Philippine National Police’s Board of Inquiry has failed to get a statement from the President on his role in Mamasapano. With such stonewalling from Mr. Aquino, how can we expect the BOI to come up with a fair and legitimate assessment of what happened?
Who knows, indeed, exactly what happened that Sunday in an open field in Maguindanao, and who knows what took place within the walls of rooms where Oplan Exodus was hatched and planned?
It is likely we will never completely find out.
There is an absence of answers, sometimes because nobody really knows where to look and everybody is stumped. In other cases, it is because the answers are there and they are far too dangerous, too inconvenient to deal with, that they have to be suppressed.
Either way, not knowing is excruciating.