New Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. had a baptism of fire of sorts when he appeared in yesterday’s public hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on alleged corruption in the military establishment. It was his first time to attend such a Senate public hearing into this matter since President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III appointed him last March 7 to head the AFP.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin joined Oban yesterday at the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigations into the alleged military corruption. They took the occasion to assuage anew the Senators on their all-out war against graft and corruption which they presented under an 18-point reforms program being implemented in the AFP.
Faced with the never-ending communist insurgency in the countryside and the Muslim secessionist conflict in Mindanao, our men and women in the AFP are also engaged in the war against global terrorism and locally-bred ones by the international al-Qaeda terror cells. While foot soldiers conduct the wars against the enemies of the State, the AFP has been under fire before public opinion over controversial deals and alleged anomalies involving high-ranking military officers, including their former AFP chiefs of staff.
As respective heads of the defense and military establishments, Gazmin and Oban must wage this battle before the bars of public opinion. The two, however, are no babes in the woods. Both are veterans of armed skirmishes in the field with armed enemies as well as in the battle of wits to win the hearts and minds of the people.
Armed with power-point presentation, Gazmin and Oban explained in broad strokes the AFP strategies to win the war against the twin evils of graft and corruption.
As the current sentinels of the defense and military establishments, Gazmin and Oban vowed to carry out this war following the “matuwid na daan” laid down for them by P-Noy at the start of his administration.
Gazmin, who belongs to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1968, capped his military career when he retired as Army’s commanding general on Oct.22,2000. As the so-called “alter ego” of the AFP commander-in-chief, Gazmin enjoys the trust and confidence of President Aquino. After all, Gazmin served as the first Presidential Security Group commander of former President Corazon Aquino, P-Noy’s late mother.
For six years, Gazmin was at Mrs.Aquino’s side in quashing nine military coup d’ etats against her administration. But that is no guarantee of security of tenure for the 66-year old Gazmin. Gazmin is among Cabinet officials who purportedly might be replaced to accommodate certain P-Noy’s Liberal Party senatorial bets who run but lost and are now no longer covered by the one-year ban for appointment to any appointive posts in the government.
On the other hand, Oban’s military career started when he first entered PMA Class 1979. The incumbent AFP chief of staff is also himself due to hang his military uniform on Dec.13 this year when he reaches the mandatory age of retirement in the military.
Given the present situation of the two, how could such war against graft and corruption be sustained on long-term basis?
Thus, it should not be surprising, the Senators at the public hearing yesterday, including their fellow PMAer, Sen.Panfilo “Ping” Lacson (PMA Class 1971), still appeared un-impressed by their public reassurances.
For one, Lacson raised the issue of the actual warm bodies in the AFP included the personnel services funded in the annual budget of the military. Lacson correctly noted that the big discrepancy of the actual warm bodies is the usual source of bloated numbers in the annual budget of the AFP. Lacson was speaking from experience because at one time, he once headed the Philippine National Police.
Another pro-administration lawmaker,Senator Franklin Drilon echoed Lacson’s concern and asked about realignments of savings from personnel services to fund other items in the AFP budget. Oban, however, cited, such realignments are done at the end of the year. Oban expressed his open mind as a personal stand when Drilon asked him if they, in the AFP would be willing to allow civilians to manage their funds.
Despite these reforms being undertaken in, and by the military, Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III called for continuing probe into every nook and cranny in the AFP where anomalies could be found. “It seems non-ending, the AFP just has too many issues,” Guingona told reporters after the hearing. He cited unanswered questions regarding conversion, the liquidation of AFP funds, and the possibility of “ghost pensioners.”
Fortunately for Gazmin and Oban, some of the Senators were more receptive to giving the AFP more slack to perform their primary duties to defend the national territory and the Filipino people with the full budgetary support they need. Of course, the Senators want the AFP not to fall again to the same traps of corruption that caused these troubles for them.
It was actually the 10th hearing on this long-running “inquiry in aid of legislation” that originally looked into the questioned plea bargaining agreement of ex-AFP comptroller Gen.Carlos Garcia. The plea-bargain deal reduced Garcia’s plunder case into indirect bribery and paved the way for his release from detention last year.
After all the hue and cry that came out during those past Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings, the Sandiganbayan approved Garcia’s plea bargain deal to the consternation of the entire nation.
As expected, left-leaning groups were quick to jump at every opportunity to cast doubt on the institutions of democracy like the Sandiganbayan as our country’s anti-graft court. Whatever the weakness of our justice system, we must obey and respect due process. We may be all sore about this plea bargain deal of Garcia but it should not be any reason for anyone to call for the resignation of the concerned justices behind this ruling.
The battle of the AFP against graft and corruption cannot be won by noisy but empty rhetorics we have heard and seen in the Senate inquiry into the Garcia plunder case. It takes the will of the entire AFP uniformed personnel, with their Commander-in-chief fully behind them, to make sure the battle against graft is won in the end.