Did Aquino order ‘Stand Down’?

So it has come down to this, as it has always been and to which it will keep coming back. Whatever the twists and turns of headlines and hearings, allegations and argumentations, disinformation and denials, insinuations and investigations, scapegoats and sycophants, the question on every Filipino’s mind, especially the grieving and angry families and comrades-in-arms of the Fallen 44 police commandos, remains:

Did President Benigno Aquino 3rd, the Commander-in-Chief at the apex of the military and police chains of command, order government forces to “stand down” or desist from mounting attacks to rescue beleaguered and eventually overrun Philippine National Police Special Action Force units, leading to the massacre of 44 PNP-SAF troopers in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, on January 25?