I’m referring to our Manila Overseas Press Club dinner-forum last Monday night (see page one) at the ballroom of the Inter-Continental Hotel in Makati.
Even National Defense Secretary Avelino "Nonong" Cruz was there as our guest. Secretary Cruz himself will speak on Thursday next week (September 21), on his plan to modernize the Armed Forces, re-equip, re-train and augment the existing forces, and obtain state of the art equipment to make our military more combat-effective. Although the date coincides with the anniversary of Marcos-imposed martial law (September 21, 1972), I don’t suppose the DND chief will comment on that awful landmark event – or even Imeldific’s plan to bury Apo Macoy at long last, not in the Libingan ng Mga Bayani but on a slope of the Cordilleras, overlooking the Ilocos provinces, especially his hometown of Batac.
I’m glad, even having been one of the prisoners of martial law, that his family may, once and for all, arrange a proper burial for the now mummified former President and strongman. For the Ghost of Marcos Past (like Scrooge’s Ghost of Christmas Past) continues to stalk the land – and we must, even those of us who fought him, find some kind of final closure.
When I think of Ferdinand E. Marcos, despite his cruel totalitarian rule and the runaway kleptocracy of his Bagong Lipunan – more a kind of bagoong Lipunan, if you ask me – I say "sayang." What a pity! For Apo Macoy – in the family we used to call him "Andy," not "Ferdie" – was one of the most brilliant men this nation ever produced. Let’s leave aside the debate over whether most of his 30 "war medals" were fake (his wartime record of "heroism" was over-magnified and embellished – after all, dad, the late Don Mariano Marcos, had been a pro-Japanese collaborator). Ferdinand had charisma, and one of the keenest minds ever encountered.
When he was in prison, practically convicted for the murder of his father’s political enemy, Nalundasan, he had the steely resolve to review for the Bar examinations, and emerged as Bar topnotcher. In sum, Macoy had dating, as we say in Tagalog, and was natan-oc (brilliant) as we say in Ilocano.
For all his sins, he might have transformed himself into a great President, inspiring the Filipino not "to be great again", as he floridly pledged in his first election campaign, but to be great – at last.
Alas, Marcos chose the path more travelled, that of warlord-style despotism, the pillaging of our national patrimony, and, by corrupting the military, striving to keep himself on a throne of bayonets as "President-for-life."
In this he failed – and he failed the millions who admittedly believed in him. It’s amazing, in retrospect, that so many of my fellow Saluyots from the Ilocano nation and Ilocoslovakia continue to "worship" him today.
Once more with feeling, sayang. Although he had savaged Ninoy Aquino and many of us, I can still mourn that grand, lost opportunity.
Returning to the subject of last Monday’s MOPC forum, I wondered, with almost all of our ranking officers in the audience, plus most of the top-rung generals of the Philippine National Police, who was guarding the ramparts outside against any terrorist assaults, suicide-bombers, or demented jihadis out to commemorate the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, by blowing up another LRT coach (as they did in December 2000), or bus (as in the Valentine Night’s bombing two years ago), or – for that matter – the United States Embassy. Sus, almost all the militarty attaches of the US government, the chief of JUSMAG, and assorted American observers were in the room, plus the military attaches of other countries (including our nextdoor ABRI of Indonesia, as well as Singapore and Malaysia), plus, naturally, the British Ambassador, the Singapore Ambassador and other diplomats.
I had to mention in my welcome remarks that if terrorists wanted to make a score, they ought to have brought a bomb into the Inter-Con ballroom that night – gee whiz, I almost bit my tongue, no sooner were those reckless words out of my mouth.
In any event, nothing untoward happened anywhere in our archipelago, much less in Metro Manila, last Monday night. Whew. At least we now know that in defending our cities and rural provinces, we don’t need our generals, only our soldiers, marines, special forces units, and unit commanders in the field. But heck, we were happy to see them at our forum in force, in full uniform – snappy, full of fight, vim and vigah (as JFK used to say), and spit and polish.
The chief of staff underscored anew the urgency of Congress approving the long-overdue Anti-Terrorism Bill, which is (he couldn’t point out) stalled in the Senate.
He stated that the military has identified several "terrorist" groups, going by the definition of terrorism in the proposed law, "whose tactics merit their inclusion into the list . . ." These are, he ticked off: (1) The Communist Party and New People’s Army (CPP/NPA); (2) the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG); (3) the Misuari Breakaway Group; (4) the Jemaah Islamiyah; (5) the Rajah Soliman Islamic Movement; and (6) the "Renegade Groups" in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
I don’t believe that there are "renegade groups" in the MILF, if you ask me. I may be paranoid, by gut instinct tells me that the entire MILF is still cooperating with the ASG and the Jemaah Islamiyah, in protecting one or even two terrorist training camps in Central Mindanao, and the renegades now being pursued in Sulu. The MILF leadership, of course, is on their best behavior, because they hope – in the Malaysian-sponsored peace talks – to wrest a concession from our gullible Government, overeager to secure the trophy of a "peace agreement", "recognizing" their claim to "ancestral lands." If the GMA Government concedes to this absurd claim, the MILF and other Moros would lay claim to the entire Mindanao – insisting it belonged to their "ancestors."
Their aim is clearly to establish a Caliphate to govern Mindanao, Basilan, and the Sulu archipelago. If this happened, "Goodbye to Zamboanga City," and all the other Christian-majority provinces in our southern islands.
What was more interesting was the open forum which followed General Esperon’s frank address. He answered all questions, even the silly ones, with aplomb and candor. For example, when needled about the impending fate of the February 24 "withdrawal of support" gang, including such prominent officers as Philippine Scout Ranger regimental commander, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, and Marine Col. Ariel Querubin, ironically a "Medal of Valor" holder, who were implicated in the February failed "coup" plot.
General Esperon said that once he receives the report of the Pre-Trial Investigators, Brig. Gen. Lim (who even had a video expressing his "withdrawal of support" from a "bogus" President) and Marine Col. Querubin, would be dealt with the "full force of law."
This would entail a formal Court Martial – and you know what this entails.
Again, it’s a pity. Lim had already been forgiven and given amnesty for having been one of the leaders of the December 1989 coup in which his Scout Rangers had seized and occupied a large segment of Makati’s financial district, including two 5-star hotels for an entire week. A West Point graduate, he was then a Captain. After being reinstated, Lim rose to star-rank as commanding general of the Scout Ranger regiment – but once more became a putschist. Will there be another "chance" for him? Not likely.
As for Querubin, with his military career of over 27 years now in tatters, it must be recalled that when he graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1979, on the cadet sabre he was awarded, were the stirring words, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and, loving fervor than silver and gold." Colonel Querubin, who hails from Dagupan City, received the highest military award, the Medal of Valor on April 20, 2001, for his part in the "battle of Kauswagan" in Mindanao.
General Esperon sadly asserted that "past honor" cannot excuse present misconduct, and the Marine colonel would have to answer, if the trial bears this out, for what he did last February.
That’s what military discipline requires. And an armed forces without discipline is simply a rabble in uniform, with guns but no loyalty or conviction.