Dissenters
in the AFP ranks
Soldiers Form Underground Group
Although
the leaders of the failed July 27 Oakwood mutiny are now behind bars and the
tension created has largely been diffused, the disquiet among the soldiers is
far from over. A group which calls itself Patriotic
Filipino Soldiers - Armed Forces of the Philippines (PFS-AFP), a secret
organization of soldiers opposing the corruption of the Macapagal-Arroyo
government, has surfaced with a statement.
BY ROWENA
CARRANZA
Bulatlat.com
In
a statement titled “GMA Failed Us,” signed by a 1Lt. Andres Maypag-asa and
sent to Bulatlat.com, the PFS-AFP said they will no longer allow
themselves to be "engulfed by the corrupt system" and “be the tools by which GMA
can remain in power.”
 The
PFS-AFP, it said, will serve as a vehicle to “unite the patriotic, democratic
and reform-committed officers and soldiers” and pursue the struggle against
graft and corruption, the use of the AFP for terrorist acts, and to achieve
genuine reforms in the Dept. of National Defense (DND), AFP and government.
PFS-AFP
claims to be organized in all branches of the AFP.
The
statement has a logo consisting of a triangle with a 16-ray sun inside and
“PFS-AFP” below the sun.
“Betrayal”
The
group scored the what they said is betrayal of the Macapagal-Arroyo government
which, four months after the Oakwood incident, continued to ignore the issues
raised by the Bagong Katipunan sa AFP, referring to Oakwood mutineers.
“Instead
of resolving and investigating the issues of corruption and irregularities in
the AFP, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sought to damage the reputation and
the credibility of our comrades and appease the Filipino people and the AFP with
empty assurances,” it said.
Despite
the inaction, the PFS-AFP allegedly continued to wait and “tried to once again
use the chain of command to report irregularities.”
“What
we got is another lifeless body of one of our own, 1Lt. Jeremy Gay-ya (PA), who
mysteriously died a week after he filed a corruption case against his Battalion
Commander for maintaining ‘ghost CAFGUs’ in their unit,” the statement
read. It did not elaborate on Gay-ya’s unit and commander.
Corruption
The
group lambasted how “corruption has risen to its fullest in this present
administration... Instead of correcting anomalies perpetrated in government
agencies such as GSIS (Government Service Insurance System), DPWH (Dept. of
Public Works and Highway), and BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue), this
administration chose to propagate disinformation and half-truths.”
It
noted how the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government are all
mired in corruption and work to suppress the truth.
“Most
importantly, despite her many self-serving pronouncements, GMA failed to uplift
the lives of the Filipino people. You have only to look at the increasing number
of the poor and jobless to see that the economy is reeling and is now on the
brink of collapse,” said the PSF-AFP.
“Too
long have we been silent witnesses to the irregularities being committed by the
present administration. It is high time that we break our silence and join our
brothers-in-arms in their crusade,” the group declared.
It
said that although their “brothers-in-arms” are locked up, it does not mean
that the “fire of idealism has been extinguished and the call for reform
suppressed... There will always be new blood that will heed the call of
patriotism.” Bulatlat.com
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