The abysmal end of a decorated officer has led to serious contemplation on the meaning of Sec. Angelo Reyes’ suicide. Many said it was a statement of remorse, an acceptance of his complicity in the pillage of AFP. Others claimed it was a protest of persecution and abandonment from an innocent man. Someone hinted that the brilliant strategist took the best way out to ensure that his wife and family would be spared from the hearings. That seemed to have worked as the House and Senate are now soft-pedaling their investigations.
This once good man believed and envisioned a “21st Century AFP: fully mission-effective, progressively-efficient, technology-driven, versatile, responsive to change and composed of soldiers who are visible role models to the Filipino People.” Blood spilled on his mother’s tombstone evoked images of hara-kiri, a form of ritual suicide used by samurai who choose to die with honor than surrender to the enemy or as capital punishment for those who seriously violated the Bushido Honor Code and brought shame to the Samurai.
Philip Zimbardo’s book, The Lucifer Effect, submits that with rare exceptions, even the best people can be influenced to participate in evil deeds under the right circumstances. The transformation of the angel Lucifer into the devil Satan is parallel to the evolution of the participating college students in the Stanford Prison Experiment who quickly morphed into the prisoners and guards that they were supposed to role-play. The character change was triggered by groupthink, them-versus-us mentality and network and hierarchical social pressure — where survival and acceptance hinged on embracing the mindset.
The claimed “pasalubong and pabaon” tradition became institutionalized among the generals and their queens who justified their deeds simply as “the way it was.” The COA auditor, Divina Cabrera, bonded with AFP for 13 years, way beyond the five-year tenure, seemed to be in collusion with the mal-practitioners for 1-2 percent of the “ slush funds”.
Did anyone pause to ponder how the P50M send-off-gift could have saved the lives of 14 marines who died in the Basilan ambush because they ran out of bullets? Did it cross the minds of Teresita, Erlinda and Clarita how $500,000 to purchase a house in California, could have bought the proper guns, boots and helmets for the soldiers fighting the war in Mindanao? Maybe they only followed the example of former First Son Mikey Arroyo who reportedly owns two houses in same state.
Indeed, what’s the difference between the alleged conjugal corruption in the AFP and the nine “in-glorias” years of familial corruption of immediate past? Did Gloria call Angie Reyes to “cross-examine” him on his involvement, and ensure that she does not get dragged into a fresh scandal? Did that conversation trigger the final act of desperation? This was flatly denied. And we believe Ananias? Even Lucifer had an army of fallen angels.
For years the Army queens and bffs Teresita Reyes and Erlinda Ligot travelled more than 40 times, bought eight houses in the US and enjoyed shopping money, all from military largesse, as the whistleblower Rabusa revealed. Clarita Garcia, in her own statement explained how she could afford the $100,000 she was caught carrying through US Immigration. In her handwritten statement she enumerated no-receipts-required travel allowances, gifts from contractors, office stipends, shopping money etc, virtually corroborating Rabusa’s testimony. Not even an affectation of remorse! Surely this was what Ari Onassis meant when he jested, “If women didn’t exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning.”
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez completes the Eve lineup. In pushing for Garcia’s plea bargain, she proved that crime pays. She claims that the case was too weak to prosecute properly. But we should be used to that by now. In her entire term, she has yet to catch a fish, big or small.
“And when she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid.” These were lines in a little poem written by Henry Longfellow for his daughter, Alice Mary. Most likely, he was simply trying to instill good values in his child rather than state a profound and prescient universal reflection. Sadly, in the study of Gender and Power, there is evidence that supports Longfellow’s verse.
The Pew Research Center cites the result of a study that 50 percent of Americans consider women more honest than men. Global research produced similar conclusions. Perhaps this presumption gives the impression that good-women-turned-bad are worse than their male counterparts. As Lord Tennyson once said “Men at most differ as Heaven and Earth, but women, worst and best, as Heaven and Hell.”
But for every Gloria, Merci, Divina, Teresita, Erlinda, and Clarita — there is a Heidi and a Leila. For all the black queens in a deck, there are queens of courage. And even when outnumbered, they can rout evil and tilt the balance for hope.
So with tremor in her voice but valor in her heart, truth-teller Heidi Mendoza exposed the byzantine transactions of Garcia and cohorts from Landbank to UCPB Alfaro and Tordesillas. Painstakingly going through a maze of fraudulent maneuverings, uncovering bank managers in cahoots with the ex-comptroller, Heidi explained how P50M from the UN East Timor Peacekeeping Fund was spirited away with nary a paper trail. She apparently turned over boxfuls of evidence to the state prosecutors, only to be told that for such a weak case, we should be grateful for the P135M that Garcia was willing to return! As if he was doing the country a favor!
In the constant duel between good and evil, truth and duplicity, corruption and honesty, Secretary Leila de Lima remains strong and unfazed. Snarky Merci told her that she answers only to the Supreme Court. She is wrong. She answers primarily to the Filipino people and ultimately to her God, the Higher Being, not the one who installed her in the Office she has discredited.
A grateful nation salutes the truth-tellers of the country. We are with you! We will prevail!
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