EDITORIAL - No slowing down on reforms

They quit to save their queen. Yesterday Angelo Reyes and Victor Corpus made their comeback – Reyes as the nation’s first ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism, Corpus as civil-military relations chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The President and commander-in-chief is entitled to appoint persons of her confidence especially when it comes to matters involving national security. Reyes and Corpus are two of her most trusted lieutenants, but they had to go amid restiveness in the military that was manifested in the mutiny in Makati last July 27. Now the two men have been given new assignments, away from mutinous’ soldiers’ line of fire – or at least that’s the hope of Malacañang.

What the administration should avoid creating is the public perception that the recycling of the two men means it’s business as usual, that all is well in the defense and military establishments. Mutiny is not the way to reforms, and coup plotters should be prosecuted and locked up in escape-proof cells. Public reaction to the mutineers, however, showed that they found some sympathy when they aired their supposed grievances, particularly about corruption in the military and neglect of the needs of foot soldiers.

The President has the prerogative to pick members of her security team, especially when it comes to the war on terror. At the same time, however, she must press on with reforms in the military, coming down hard on the corrupt and seeing to it that opportunities for graft are minimized. She must have had some idea of these opportunities, these loopholes that the corrupt exploit, during her brief stint as concurrent defense chief following Reyes’ resignation.

Now the President has a new defense secretary, Eduardo Ermita, who must make military reforms a priority. National defense is only as good as its weakest link. In this case, the weakest link is the soldier demoralized by corruption and official neglect. The President and commander-in-chief cannot afford to slow down the momentum of reforms in the military.