EDITORIAL - Go ahead, resign

Several soldiers with too much time on their hands are reportedly threatening to resign en masse over political developments and movements in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Like other agitators before them, these soldiers do not have the guts to identify themselves so the public can make a better assessment of their complaints. There is never a shortage of discontent in the ranks of the AFP, but soldiers have different ways of dealing with their problems.

Basking in their 15 minutes of fame, members of the group that calls itself the Nationalist Officers’ Union, which claims to have police officers as members, are threatening to quit the service – but only if their resignations are accepted. What sort of yellow-bellied men are we recruiting into the AFP? Let’s hope this bunch does not again include graduates of the Philippine Military Academy. Filipino taxpayers shell out about P4 million for the four-year education of every cadet in the PMA. If all that the academy keeps producing are confused, troublemaking coup plotters and mutineers, we should just shut down that academy for wasting public funds.

Instead of humoring this bunch, the AFP should simply accept all offers of resignation and launch a recruitment campaign to inject fresh blood into the military. At the same time, it should strengthen the AFP’s grievance mechanism – and make sure soldiers are aware of it – so the disaffected need not take their complaints to the press like publicity-seeking politicians. In one of the world’s most poorly equipped armed forces, which is battling not just enemies of the state but also public officials who use the military for partisan political purposes, there is always a surfeit of complaints. Many of the grievances are valid and must be addressed within the limited capabilities of the AFP.

Other grievances, however, are beyond the control of the AFP and must be left to civilians to address. If the latest agitators cannot get that point, they should do the nation a favor and resign irrevocably. Now.