Ebdane is new defense chief

President Arroyo has decided to appoint Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. as her new defense chief, a highly placed Malacañang source disclosed yesterday.

The announcement will be made at the end of the month, the source said.

The date will mark two months since the President assumed the defense portfolio following the resignation of Avelino Cruz Jr. amid differences with Palace and Cabinet officials over several controversies, notably efforts to amend the Constitution.

The selection of Ebdane, currently the secretary of public works and highways, goes against one of the recommendations of the special commission formed after the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, which drafted military reforms to end the coup culture in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The commission headed by Justice Florentino Feliciano warned against the appointment of retired military or police officers to the top post in the defense department.

Ebdane’s selection also goes against the recommendation of Cruz, who has been widely credited for implementing key proposals in the Philippine Defense Reform program in his two years as defense chief.

Ebdane is a member of the Philippine Military Academy’s Class ’70. He was one of several military and police officers who secured Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she was vice president in the months prior to the ouster of Joseph Estrada from the presidency.

Among the other members of that group are Leandro Mendoza, who became President Arroyo’s first Philippine National Police (PNP) chief.

Mendoza is now secretary of transportation of communications. One of his deputies is another member of that security group, retired police officer Reynaldo Berroya, who heads the Land Transportation Office in an acting capacity.

Ebdane replaced Mendoza as PNP chief. His stint at the helm of the PNP became notorious for the escape of Jemaah Islamiyah bomb maker Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi from PNP headquarters at Camp Crame while Australian Prime Minister John Howard was visiting Manila.

Ebdane headed a special police task force against kidnapping when the leader of the Pentagon kidnapping gang, Faisal Marohombsar, also escaped from the task force detention center at Camp Crame.

Upon his retirement from the PNP, Ebdane was named national security adviser. He was later transferred to the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Since the resignation of Cruz, Ebdane has been vocal about his readiness to move to the defense department. Responding to criticisms about the selection of a retired police officer as defense secretary, he said he was already a civilian.