EDITORIAL — Intelligence overhaul

Can the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines be straightened out? Only if those in power learn to leave it alone so it can do its job, which is to gather intelligence for national security purposes. National security, it must be emphasized, is not synonymous with the security of tenure of any public official. Misusing the ISAFP and other intelligence assets of the state for partisan purposes may even undermine democracy and national security.

Last Thursday Lt. Col. Henry Robinson was sacked as commander of the ISAFP’s Military Intelligence Group-15. Robinson and seven of his men will undergo pre-trial investigation for their raid on a house in Kamuning, Quezon City last month in which five supporters of deposed President Joseph Estrada were arrested on suspicion of involvement in a coup plot. The AFP initially denied involvement in the raid but later admitted that the five were in ISAFP custody, saying one of the suspects was a communist hit man tasked to assassinate President Arroyo and several of her Cabinet members.

The warrantless arrests and the initial attempt of the AFP to disown the raid gave anti-government groups additional ammunition to criticize the human rights record of an administration that seems to be in a constant state of siege. It was also another blot on the record of the ISAFP, which has figured in other political controversies in the recent past. Last year the ISAFP was at the center of the wiretapping scandal that led to the opposition’s effort to impeach President Arroyo on accusations of rigging the May 2004 vote in her favor.

The ISAFP was also accused of conducting illegal wiretapping and other forms of surveillance of government critics during the Estrada administration. The tendency of those in power to use this agency for personal and partisan purposes can only set back efforts to improve the state’s capability to fight genuine threats to national security. The ISAFP and other intelligence agencies perform a function that is vital particularly in the age of terrorism. The Philippines is not a police state. It is not yet too late to overhaul intelligence agencies so they can carry out the tasks that they are mandated to do in a democracy.