Only two months after being catapulted to power by a people’s uprising, Pres. Arroyo has turned her back on People Power 2. This is the message she sends by appointing so many generals, retired and active, to sensitive posts that normally belong to civilians, giving them unprecedented powers.
By EDMUNDO SANTUARIO III
Is
the president, as some militant organizations said this week, scared of the
military?
Probably.
But the unlimited powers and favors being showered on these generals could have
also been done to secure the loyalty of both the Armed Forces and the police
and, hence, to consolidate the presidency.
The
dominant presence of military men in the Arroyo cabinet and other line agencies
was clinched the moment military men led by former Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) chief and Defense Secretary Renato de Villa arrogated unto
themselves, without consulting other leaders of the oust-Estrada campaign, the
right to negotiate for the surrender of the former president. That paved the way
for De Villa as the first appointee in the successor presidency—as executive
secretary, considered in Philippine politics as the “Little President.”
With
this powerful post secure, the task of hauling in more military men into the
civilian bureaucracy became smooth. De Villa himself has said quite arrogantly
that nominees to cabinet positions should pass through him, bypassing the
recommendatory powers of a screening committee led by now Labor Secretary
Patricia Sto. Tomas.
Other
military men aside from De Villa are: newly-designated Defense Secretary Angelo
Reyes (immediate former AFP chief); National Security Adviser Roilo Golez (a
former Navy officer and congressman); Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Eduardo Ermita (former general and congressman); National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco (former police general); Task Force
Anti-Smuggling chief Jose Calimlim, Jr. (former AFP vice chief and bungling
chief of the Intelligence Service of the AFP); National Telecommunications
Commissioner Eliseo M. Rio, Jr. (a brigadier general); and former Marines chief
Gen. Edgardo Espinosa, chief of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO)
in Taiwan.
Others
are: Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Eduardo Abenina (a former
general); Air Transport Office chief Gen. Adelberto Yap; and Poro Point
Development Authority chief Fortunato Abat (another former AFP chief).
Giving
favors to military men has gone beyond appointments to juicy government
positions. Among the first priorities Arroyo announced after assuming the
presidency was an increase in the salaries and benefits of military personnel.
An exposé by the former Navy Marines chief about logistics scams in the AFP was
immediately suppressed by his forced resignation in exchange for either an
ambassadorial post or as new chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
Military
influence
How
influential the military men have become in the Arroyo administration was
initially shown by their attempt to derail the release of some 250 political
prisoners, a commitment made by Arroyo at the height of the oust-Estrada
campaign. Only a few have been freed so far—not as a sign of presidential
magnanimity but because a hunger strike the prisoners had resorted to proved
embarrassing to the Arroyo administration.
Doubts
have been raised about the prospects of peace talks that Arroyo said she would
initiate with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Police Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin was
to be released by the New People’s Army (NPA)–and this was in January–but
the AFP top brass chose to mount a “rescue operation” which turned out to be
disastrous. Martin was killed by government troops during what the military said
was a “chance encounter” with the NPA custodial force in Gen. Nakar, Quezon
last week.
The
presence of military men in the Arroyo cabinet who continue to prefer a military
solution to the rebellion problem makes the job of the Government of the
Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiating panel difficult. Right now, the
negotiating functions of the GRP panel are being eclipsed by the generals’
insistence that the talks be held in the country and by their attempt to impose
conditions that had long been resolved in 10 bilateral agreements with the NDFP.
Peace
talks with the MILF may prove especially problematic. For one, Armed Forces
chief Villanueva, who last year commanded government troops in launching an
“all-out” offensive against the Moro guerillas, objects to the idea of
returning some 40 camps to the MILF. The recovery of the camps captured by
government forces during their offensive is one of the goodwill measures being
sought by the MILF before going back to the negotiating table.
Militarization
The
militarization of the civilian bureaucracy took root during the Marcos years
when authoritarian rule was propped up by fascist military and police power. Top
defense and military officials who tried to grab power from Marcos rode the
crest of the 1986 people’s uprising thus enabling them to institute a
commanding presence in the Aquino presidency. After easing out progressive
members of the Aquino cabinet, they mounted a costly all-out war policy against
Marxist and Moro guerillas and undermined peace efforts. They also opposed calls
for the prosecution of military, police and paramilitary men who were involved
in atrocities.
The
pattern set by Aquino in appointing military men to civilian posts was promoted
even more by Ramos. It was also during his watch that military men in the
cabinet backed a secret plot to restore authoritarian rule by rigging the 1987
constitution. Ramos’ pro-US stance was accentuated by the signing of the
onerous Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement.
In
his short-lived presidency, Estrada courted the loyalty of the Armed Forces with
promises of salary increases and other benefits and with a multi-billion peso
modernization program, among others. The AFP also served as an instrument for
recovering Estrada’s sagging “popularity” when it launched an “all-out
war” against the MILF in Mindanao that resulted in many civilian deaths and
the displacement of almost a million residents.
Arroyo
has been mum on growing criticism about the unprecedented appointment of so many
military men to government. But she has been emphatic in saying that all her
appointments are on the basis of their qualifications and their ability to
perform in pursuit of administration goals. Reyes himself has said that those
who think that generals holding civilian positions retain their military mindset
should have their heads examined. Perhaps that challenge should be posed instead
on Arroyo and the generals themselves.
If
the Arroyo presidency is serious in its policy of reconciliation with all
political forces and a peace process with the revolutionary groups, then why
appoint military men in government particularly in positions whose functions
include the pursuit of peace?
Appointing
military men to top government positions is Arroyo’s way of paying a political
debt to people whom she erroneously assumes played a key role in her assumption
to the presidency and who would help in consolidating her power. But she is in
fact creating more problems than she can manage.
First,
the military appointments have created divisiveness not only within her cabinet
but also in the Armed Forces itself as seen in the intense jockeying for
positions. Second, it only signaled an end to the tactical alliance with
progressive forces who were instrumental in the ouster of a discredited
president and in Arroyo’s ascendancy to the presidency. Third, she will only
be further institutionalizing military factionalist power in government on a
scale that, based on the military’s track record, will always undermine
civilian supremacy especially in the pursuit of peace.
But,
in the first place, why indeed accommodate a military mindset that has no
tolerance for dissent and freedom of expression when the president herself
always brags about bringing in a new style of leadership in government through
what she calls “consensual politics?” #