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Volume 3,  Number 28              August 17 - 23, 2003            Quezon City, Philippines


 





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Ex-AFP Psy-Ops Chief says GMA Can’t Reform Military

Just as lack of professionalism and corruption continues to fester the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), hundreds and perhaps thousands of idealistic and reform-minded officers and men enlist for any signs of agitation for mutinous and other rebellious activities. A number of them, however, just leave without whimper and relocate themselves for what they believe are more fruitful endeavors. One of these young officers, Army Capt. Rene N. Jarque, who quietly left the service in 1998 likens the AFP to a “crumbling, old house” and says that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cannot be expected to reform the military for several reasons.

By Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com
 

The former head of the Philippine Army’s Psychological Operations Group said over the weekend that any reform made in the Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP) today would not succeed since, he said, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo continues to patronize the AFP.

Rene N. Jarque, an Army captain who resigned in 1998 in frustration over the lack of professionalism and corruption in the AFP, also said the president is indebted to the military’s top officials who, in January 2001, severed their loyalty to President Joseph Estrada in the climax of the People Power II uprising. The uprising, sparked by charges of plunder and graft against Estrada, led to the assumption into power of Macapagal-Arroyo.

In a paper he read at a forum on the July 27 “Oakwood Mutiny” at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon, Jarque likened the AFP to a “crumbling, old house that is tattered everywhere.” “No amount of repainting and re-plastering of the walls or repairing…will make it stronger as the pillars and foundations are weak,” he said. “What is required is a total overhaul.”  

Ex-Army Capt. Rene Jarque

Photo by Arkibong Bayan

Macapagal-Arroyo has denied insinuations that military reform was not part of her agenda as president saying that reforms were underway even before the mutineers struck on July 27.

But Jarque, son of Army Gen. Raymundo Jarque who defected to the National Democratic Front (NDF) in 1995, said AFP reform “disappeared from the President’s radar screen as she patronized the generals for two reasons: first, she needed the help of the AFP to hold the numerous security problems in check and to maintain a semblance of order and authority as she dealt with a rather unstable political set-up; second, debt of gratitude for the AFP’s pivotal role in propelling her to the presidency.”

The former Army captain who also served as special assistant to the defense secretary in 1998 said Macapagal-Arroyo’s debt of gratitude should not deter an open and honest investigation of the corruption in the AFP.

Jarque graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, in 1986 and holds an MBA from Ateneo. He took part in the 1989 coup against then President Corazon Aquino.

“Festering cancer”

The forum, organized by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), dealt on the lessons drawn from the mutiny staged by – according to government sources – at least 300 officers and enlisted personnel of the AFP on July 27. The mutineers, who are now facing investigation while being held by their mother units, are now facing investigation by a fact-finding commission appointed by the president as well as by both houses of Congress.

Government officials have alleged that the incident was part of a coup plot linking ousted President Joseph Estrada and his family as well as Sen. Gregorio Honasan, who is now in hiding.

In the same forum, former AFP Inspector General Danilo Vizmanos, described the Oakwood incident as a mere “military demonstration.” Had the mutineers – who reportedly numbered 2,000 – instead staged a peaceful prayer vigil at Plaza Miranda, in full uniform and without arms, their grievances against corruption in the AFP and call for Macapagal-Arroyo’s resignation would have gathered public support, he said.

Vizmanos, a former Navy captain who now heads Selda, an association of former political detainees, described military corruption as a “festering cancer” with its roots traceable to the role of the United States and the legacy of Marcos and the martial law years.

Vizmanos said that the U.S. development of proxy armies, such as that of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, during the Cold War strengthened military organizations in different parts of the world including in the Philippines to the point of intimidating and undermining civilian authority.

During martial law, he said, “Systematic and methodical corruption of the military hierarchy was an essential part of Marcos’s strategy to maintain his control of the armed forces and assure longevity of the dictatorship.”

“‘Power-sharing’ was also part of the political strategy as an incentive to the politically-ambitious military brass who hungered for state power and a share of the loot of the people’s money,” said Vizmanos. “The shrewd and wily Marcos certainly knew how to bloat the ego and swell the heads of top-brass opportunists.”

Referring to the reign of terror during those years, Vizmanos said “Marcos had no qualms in giving license to sadistic officers and men to commit human rights violations with impunity. All those engaged in counter-insurgency conflict were given a free hand to “salvage” and torture “subversives” and “enemies of the state” without fear of prosecution in any court of law.”

Reforming the military

Jarque, meanwhile said that there is definitely a need for reform in the armed forces. “The signposts of unprofessionalism and corruption are everywhere -- the sergeant who sells combat boots and grenades, the major who gets a kickback from purchases, the lieutenant who accepts bribes from illegal loggers, the general who converts unit funds for personal purposes, the sergeant who hides his incompetence through a padrino, the colonel who seeks promotion by palakasan or sipsipan and every officer or enlisted personnel who receives an allowance derived from an illegal practice called ‘conversion,’” he pointed out. “Poor hospital conditions, shoddy maintenance of equipment, inadequate housing for soldiers, unflyable planes and unsailable vessels, no first-aid kits to field units, lack of ammunition -- all these point to something fundamentally wrong with the state of the AFP today and the need for reform.” 

He said the Philippine Navy should be named, “Italian Navy”: “Ang mga barko ay laging naka-tali (boats are always anchored [for being unusable] instead of being out in the sea.”

Jarque cited types of corruption in the armed forces: commissions, kickbacks, overpricing, padding, substitution, rigged biddings, under-delivery and ghost delivery. These are the same forms of military corruption cited by Lt. SG Antonio Trillanes IV, one of the leaders of the Oakwood mutiny, in a paper on corruption in the Philippine Navy which he wrote as an MA Public Administration student at UP in 2001.

“However,” he said, “the AFP is involved in a far more sophisticated form of corruption that can be called the ‘mother’ of all corruption in the AFP. This is the practice called “conversion”. It is the ultimate source of abuse and corruption in the AFP that has caused demoralization in the ranks. What is conversion and why is it a problem?”

Lifting from an article he wrote in the Army Journal in 1997, he defined conversion as “the process of converting procurements into their cash equivalent.” He also quoted from Col. Ricardo Morales, who wrote an essay on the same topic in the same publication in 2001: “If an amount is originally intended for office supplies but is instead spent for construction materials, this amount has to be ‘converted’ so that government accounting and auditing requirements are satisfied.”

NRP in Oakwood

Rafael Baylosis, vice-chair for political and external affairs of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, dismissed Honasan’s “National Recovery Program” as no different from programs pursued by past administrations.

NRP was used by the July 27 mutineers as their “political program.” But the program is said to be Honasan’s campaign agenda for his presidential bid in May 2004.

Baylosis, however, did not belittle the grievances of the mutineers saying that they deserve sympathy and  that they should not be confused with the reactionary politicians who used their idealism for their own ends. He commended the mutineers for their courage and sincerity that, he said, warrant the support of and coordination with progressive forces in the Philippines. With other reports / Bulatlat.com

Related article in this issue: 
“My Career Would Have Been Ruined for Exposing Corruption in the AFP” - Jarque

Other related articles:
Analysis - NRP in the Mutineers’ Adventurism

The Successful Coup   

As junior officers are barred from public hearings: Senate, House Grill Abaya  

Mindanao Truth Commission Appeals for Mutineers’ Help in Probe of Davao Bombings   

Footnotes to A Mutiny  

Siege in Makati: Rebel Soldiers Ask President, Generals to Resign

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Strong Republic is Fast Crumbling from Within – NDFP  

Quarantine for the "Coup Virus"?

Navy Whistleblowers’ Lost Cause  

On Coups and the “Magdalo Group”-- Reliving History

 

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