Palace mulling extension of Esperon’s term?

Administration officials are trying to shake off rumors that Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. will get another crack at the military’s top post after his retirement in February, as President Arroyo remains mum on the issue.

“Well, those are rumors up to this point in time. The ultimate decision is who the choice of the President is,” Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye declined to comment on the matter.

Esperon is set to bow out of military service on Feb. 9 next year upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56, or less than two months from now.

There is talk among middle and senior grade officers in the Armed Forces that President Arroyo is extending Esperon’s stint as Armed Forces chief after his retirement.

“I won’t make any comment on that.  I’ll give the President a free hand to decide what is best for the AFP as commander-in-chief,” Teodoro said.

Esperon, who is staunchly loyal to Mrs. Arroyo, assumed command of the AFP in July last year with the retirement of Gen. Generoso Senga.

It could not be immediately ascertained if the issue of extension was taken up during President Arroyo’s Christmas luncheon with AFP service commanders at Malacañang yesterday.

Esperon himself was mum on the issue, saying only that he was honored to have served as chief of the 120,000-strong military.

“If I will be extended I will be honored but if not, I am honored that I have served as AFP chief,” Esperon said.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, for his part, said he was not aware of any move to extend Esperon’s term.

“I don’t meddle in promotions of officers. But I have not heard of any such thing in our meetings in the Palace,” Gonzales said in a telephone interview.

Esperon is widely credited for shielding the Arroyo administration from several attempts to overthrow it. He drew both praise and criticism for his tough stance against military personnel on trial for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, the alleged February 2006 plot to overthrow the government, and the Nov.29 siege of the Peninsula Manila, during which Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, former Scout Rangers chief Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and a handful of junior officers called for a “people power” revolt against the Arroyo administration.

Leftist groups have also accused him of responsibility in the killings and disappearance of hundreds of activists.