GMA orders AFP reforms carried out

Following another military plot to oust her from power, President Arroyo ordered yesterday the immediate implementation of reforms recommended by a fact-finding commission on the failed July 27 mutiny.

Mrs. Arroyo ordered presidential adviser Carolina Hernandez, a former member of presidential commission headed by former justice Florentino Feliciano, to oversee the implementation of the reforms.

"I have asked Carolina Hernandez as my adviser to see through the reforms in the (Armed Forces of the Philippines)," Mrs. Arroyo said. "We have to build up institutions like the AFP and the (Philippine National Police) through these reforms."

The President issued the order after another shadowy group of Army officers, calling themselves "Kawal" (soldier), appeared on national television last Wednesday denouncing what they perceived as "dangerous politicization of the military."

The group also deplored the alleged favoritism and inequity in the promotion system in the military, which they claim discriminated in favor of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) over those who finished the AFP Officers Candidates’ School.

The group also reiterated demands to address grievances over pay, housing and career development, the same complaints aired by the Magdalo group of officers and servicemen who staged the failed mutiny last July 27 at the Oakwood Premier Ayala Center in Makati City.

Opposition Sen. Gregorio Honasan, one of the civilians implicated in the Oakwood mutiny, said the Arroyo administration should sincerely pursue the recommendations of the Feliciano Commission.

Honasan called on Mrs. Arroyo to put up a grievance body composed entirely of civilians with no military background.

"As it is right now, our soldiers have only the media to turn to, as in this case of Kawal Army captains who were assisted by (Council on Philippine Affairs secretary general Pastor) Saycon to get to the media to ventilate their gripes," Honasan said.

Three days after the Oakwood incident, Mrs. Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 255 creating a fact-finding commission to investigate the root cause of the uprising and come up with its recommendations.

Mrs. Arroyo appointed Feliciano to head the commission with Hernandez as one of the members.

Among the recommendation of the commission was to establish a grievance mechanism in the military and eradicating corruption in the military.

The President also appointed her appointments secretary Connie de Guzman as defense undersecretary tasked with monitoring reforms in the military. – Marichu Villanueva