Sustaining the momentum

Throughout much of his 11 months at the helm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Gen. Generoso Senga was busy battling internal threats.

"Internal" does not refer to traditional security threats within Philippine territory, but to restiveness within the AFP, fanned by politicians, retired generals and civilians who can’t break the habit of using the military for partisan ends.

Senga bows out of the service today with the AFP still a cohesive unit, with hardly any visible opposition within the ranks to the selection of Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon as the next AFP chief.

Suspected coup plotters are undergoing pre-trial or preliminary investigation for a possible court-martial. Senga and his direct boss, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, had vowed to stop treating coup plotters with kid gloves, and they have shown that they mean it.

Esperon has made it known that he would be just as relentless in enforcing military discipline.

In regular meetings with troops around the country, Cruz and Senga spelled out the need to insulate the AFP from partisan politics. Judging from the military’s response to efforts of coup plotters to recruit supporters, it looks like the message is starting to sink in.

"Our officers and men are tired of coup attempts and destabilization threats," Senga told me yesterday, echoing what Cruz has also been saying. "Some have simply been misled."

Are we seeing a sea change that could lead to the creation of a professional, apolitical AFP?

It will depend on whether Esperon can sustain the momentum of reforms in his 18 months at the AFP’s helm.

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Asked to assess his 11 months as chief of staff, Senga told me, "I tried my best, I did what I could, based on my convictions, my beliefs."

He has no regrets, he said, and his only wish as he hangs up his uniform is the acceleration of the 18-year defense reform program, which includes upgrading the capability of the AFP.

The reforms implemented so far, Senga insisted, are "irreversible… we must capitalize on the momentum that we have achieved."

Both Senga and Cruz see no backsliding in reforms as Esperon takes over as chief of staff.

Senga denied any rift with Esperon. "That’s the farthest from the truth… that was a creation of the media," Senga told me.

Last February, coup plotters had tried to recruit Senga and Esperon, telling both officers that the other had already agreed to withdraw support from the commander-in-chief, and then trying to play one against the other. The two didn’t buy the story and neutralized the coup plotters.

"Esperon supported me all the way," Senga said.

Both Senga and Cruz believe Esperon had no hand in vote-rigging in Mindanao in May 2004. Esperon has already given his side on this controversy.

"In fact I am even proud of what we did in the elections," Esperon told The STAR the other day. "We lost four men… in political attacks."

Senga believes Esperon can sustain the momentum of defense reforms, and says Esperon enjoys the support of all the major service commanders as well as the Marines and Army Scout Rangers.

Esperon is sure to sustain the hard-line approach to coup attempts.

To eradicate the coup culture in the AFP, he said, "you have to impose military justice on anyone who breaks the chain of command… if you don’t like the military, get out."

He has explained his side on the vote-rigging controversy, he said, knowing that to become an effective AFP chief, "I have to have moral authority (over military personnel). I have to meet their requirements. I have to be on the level with them."

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Leading the AFP is a long way for the boy whose father, a farmer, filling out a questionnaire for Esperon’s entry as a state scholar in the Philippine Science High School, wrote that the boy hoped to become a horticulturist.

That peaceful life was not for Esperon, whose sense of humor is surely an asset in dealing with unhappy military officers.

"You can call me Hermogene," he said, pronouncing the last syllable jean. "If that’s too long, you can call me Hermo. You can call me Jun. Junior officers can call me sir. For the ladies, call me any time. We are service-oriented."

He jokes even about his children, aged 3 to 31: "That’s virility!"

The children are from two marriages; the first ended when his wife Conchita died in a vehicular accident in Tarlac on Valentine’s Day 1991. Years later, as commander of the Presidential Security Group, he met Lorna Hermenegilda Valenzuela, a PSG internist 13 years his junior. The two married in 1999.

Sometimes Esperon wonders what life would have been like if he had indeed become a horticulturist or pursued another career. His high school classmates, among them former Cabinet members Cielito Habito and Mario Taguiwalo, are successful and making more money in their respective fields, Esperon said.

Among the guests at their high school prom, he recalls, were Assumption students including Gloria Macapagal.

His close ties with the President, and the fact that he hails from Fidel Ramos’ hometown of Asingan in Pangasinan, have been seen as additional pluses for Esperon in his rise to the top.

Esperon shrugs off such perceptions.

"Are we the bad guys? We are not the bad guys. We’re willing to put our lives on the line. Bakit n’yo naman tatawaran ang aming kakayahan? Why will you ask for a discount?" he jokes.

Like Senga, Esperon believes the coup threat is over. His priorities, he said, are fighting the New People’s Army and Islamist terrorists.

Senga told me yesterday, "We have a very good incoming chief of staff."

Unlike Senga, whose appointment to the top AFP post was not marred by controversy, Esperon will have to win over skeptics, who fear that he will slow down efforts to insulate the military from politics.

"Sometimes you just have to give (the military) a break and let us do our job," Esperon said.