Reflections by Dinky Soliman 2006
THE MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM…
Feb. 28, 2006
This is an article that took almost five years to make. It was a promise to then Secretary of National Defense (SND) Angelo Reyes after one of the many trips we took in the field, interacting with field workers of government and the men and women in uniform. I told him that I am discovering sides of the military that many people do not know, especially those of us who come from civil society.
I was a student of the First Quarter Storm ( a member of the UP Student Catholic Action, a clerico-fascist according to some) and was in UP at the onset of Martial law. I have always distrusted the military. I have friends who were tortured, some killed, during that period. There was great discomfort in having to work with them at close range, like riding the Huey choppers while responding to disaster work or walking side by side with them in the hinterlands of Mindanao.
However, it was in these trips that I met the men and women in uniform. I saw their world from their perspective. Many of them are committed to service and really go the extra mile to finish the mission they have been given. While they are combatants, they also do development work. I met officers who were teaching the communities of the former camp Abubakar, running literacy classes. There were livelihood programs that were funded by the men and women in uniform; income generating activities that they were sharing and teaching the people who distrusted them in the beginning. They rebuilt houses and repaired mosques after the cessation of hostilities. The core shelter houses of the victims of displacement were undertaken at record speed. They walked the long kilometers to reach the people who got isolated because of floods and landslides. They are witnesses, if not companions, of the poverty of the people in the rural areas.
They executed these programs with the precision that they used with warfare. The officers were intelligent and had rigorous training not only from the Philippine Military Academy but also from other academic institutions, such as Asian Institute of Management , Wharton School of Business, and Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. They also knew how to entertain themselves. Most officers I have met know how to do a mean boogie or know how to sing with a band.
I am not romanticizing and turning a blind eye to the corruption and abuse of the men and women in uniform. The wrong doings exist and are very entrenched in the system. Thus, the reform within the military has been a work-in-progress since the first coup attempt in 1987. I have seen the soldiers in the field with meager provisions, in slippers and sleeping in foxholes; and I know about unfortunate incidents where they die because of loss of blood, due to inavailability of supply in the area of operation. The corruption of the officers are known to the men and women in uniform because they see it happen before their eyes; they follow the system or they get out or they are killed, as some have found out too late.
Yes, there are very legitimate grievances that the men and women in uniform have been harboring and struggling to change. But one of the most serious issues is the patronage system inside, which has a strong bearing on promotions and the upward mobility of the men and women in uniform. This system of promotion, where the politicians have a strong hand in the decision making process and the “bata-bata” system inside the organization, is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the professionalization of the military. I have been given scraps of paper as I leave an area in Mindanao (several times) by soldiers with their names and rank and a request to put in a good word for them so that they can get promoted. I did not know what to do with those names and their requests; I decided to write a letter of thank-you for the services done during our visit to their commanding officer. I thought it was a small favor for the work they are doing for all of us; but then it also lent itself to the “palakasan system.” To get promoted, the officers have to engage in a political process with politicians, especially the Commission on Appointments.
But the gravest politization of the military in current times is their involvement in the elections of 2004. As narrated by Gen. Gudani and Col. Balutan, there were efforts to manipulate the election through the cooperation of the men and women in uniform as ordered by their “higher-ups”. This was also brought out by the Garci tapes, when generals were mentioned in the conversations.
In the last ten days, there have been calls from the Secretary of National Defense to stop politicizing the military and leave them alone to do their jobs. I ask Sec. Cruz: who used them for elections, who got them engaged in politics, who made the revolving door policy of Chief of Staffs as a thank-you for their political support? The men and women in uniform are thinking and are not fools; this is one of the pillars of dissent: the continuing cover-up of a crime that involved a significant segment of the men and women in uniform in the manipulation of the 2004 election. There was an internal investigation by the Inspector General, then Vice Admiral M. Mayuga; where is the report and what is the result of the investigation? The public and the men and women in uniform must know; it will help in the professionalizing the institution; it will help in calming the restiveness in the military.
The events since February 24, 2006, are manifestations of the outrage of the men and women in uniform. Was there a coup attempt? It is confusing. The explanation of the plan of the men and women in uniform according to the AFP and DND and Malacanang is for them to join the rally in EDSA and withdraw support from President Gloria Macapagal –Arroyo. Is that a coup or a power grab? When the Marines said they protest the change of the commandant and call on the people to support their protest, is that a coup? On TV the government admitted that the tanks and the soldiers are theirs, those that came in from the provinces. The coup plot revelation came in after the declaration of emergency rule; recall that Gen. Senga was emphatic that there was no coup!
The alleged connivance between the NPA and some elements of the Magdalo group are hard to believe because the military are very thorough in their indoctrination that the anti-communist sentiment is very deeply rooted in the soldiers. It is ingrained in their minds that even Cabinet members like us were mentioned in a report to be sympathetic to communists. Again, is it not an insult to the training of the soldiers that they can conceive an alliance with the enemy? Or is it the story line to confuse and justify the actions of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her men?
The men and women in uniform have been trained to protect the people and the constitution. They risk life and limb in undertaking their mission. They follow a chain of command and are trained to obey, not to question and argue with their superior; the assumption is the commander carries the principles and values of honor and service to the country. Therefore it takes greater courage to question the commander if the orders and conduct of the operation goes against honor and service to the country; only brave hearts will do it.
By: Corazon Juliano-Soliman (dinky)
dinkysunflower@yahoo.com
