Pro-Poe colonel marked AWOL

A senior Army official facing arrest for allegedly campaigning for opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. has been marked AWOL, or absent without official leave.

Relatedly, a discreet probe is being undertaken against several senior military and police generals who have supposedly shown political bias during the election season.

Col. Jose Gamus, deputy commander of the 901st Infantry Brigade based in Albay, was given 10 days to surface and subject himself to an investigation for allegedly "committing acts inimical to the Army’s rules and regulations," Army spokesman Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual said.

Pascual said Gamus will automatically be dropped from the rolls if he fails to surface within 10 days, as per Army regulations.

Gamus, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class ’76, is accused of "openly campaigning" for Poe in the south. His alleged partisan political activities were prominently monitored in Zamboanga Sibugay and in Sulu by the military’s joint Task Force Comet commander Gen. Gabriel Habacon.

Gamus was also accused by his classmate, Col. Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the 104th Infantry Brigade based in Sulu, of trying to interfere with the counting of votes for national and local candidates being conducted inside the headquarters of the 104th Brigade in Sulu.

Gamus earlier questioned Pajarito’s actions for conducting a vote count inside the 104th headquarters without the presence of Poe’s poll watchers.

In a television interview yesterday, Gamus denied reports linking him to partisan politics.

He also said he is not in hiding nor is he the subject of an arrest order.

"Ako po’y hindi nagtatago. Nakalabas ako at nakakapunta sa gusto kong puntahan. Malinis ang konsensya ko (I am not in hiding. In fact, I go to any place I choose to go to. My conscience is clear)," Gamus said.

Just the same, Gamus promised to report to his mother unit at the 9th Infantry Division, based in Pili, Camarines Norte, at the soonest possible time.

The military brass meanwhile said it is closely watching a number of retired and active military officers over alleged plots to destabilize the 130,000-strong Philippine armed forces a week after the voting.

There appeared to be a "grand effort of certain partisan groups to undermine the cohesiveness of the (military) and create dissension within our ranks as part of a political agenda," chief of staff Gen. Narciso Abaya told a news conference.

Military and police sources claimed the highest military officer being subjected to a discreet probe has a rank of major general. There are also a couple of full colonels and lieutenant colonels being investigated.

One of these military officers was relieved from his post in the AFP and was reassigned to a less sensitive assignment after he was monitored to be acting as intelligence chief for Poe, according to the sources.

The major general allegedly assured Poe of a landslide victory in his area, which subsequently happened. Poe clobbered Mrs. Arroyo in the vote-rich region with a 60-40 vote margin.

Abaya said the military was checking on reports that several ex-generals were spotted in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

"They are supposed to be belonging to a partisan political group," he said. "I would also like to assure our people that any and all efforts to divide and destabilize the (armed forces) shall not prevail."

But Gamus claimed that while he was in Mindanao, he did not monitor activities by active or retired officers working to destabilize the government.

"Paminsan-minsan, ako ay nagtatanong pero ang sinabi nila sa akin ang kanilang ginagawa ay paniniguro lamang na magkaroon ng malinis na halalan (Sometimes I get to ask them what are they doing there but all they reply is that they want to ensure a clean election)," he said.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye also told reporters that Gamus "has been found to be actively engaged in partisan politicking."

Mrs. Arroyo, projected by exit polls as the winner of the May 10 vote, survived a military rebellion last year. On Monday she said she was "concerned over reports of localized cheating and isolated cases of violence that tend to undermine the image of Philippine democracy."

She urged election officials to "thoroughly investigate all specific, substantiated cases of electoral fraud regardless of partisan involvement."

In the Philippine National Police, investigators are also collating evidence against a police director, two chief superintendents and a number of senior superintendents and superintendents who allegedly have backed certain politicians.

Two of these police superintendents have already been relieved and are now under investigation. — With AFP