Men of peace

If there is anyone who would want peace more than anything else to reign in our beloved land, it would be the military and policemen who are always in the frontline during armed conflicts. Thus, it would be foolhardy for their Commander-in-Chief – though they may no longer be in the active service – to ignore their sentiments on how to wage a just and lasting peace, and not at all costs.

This was exactly what President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III did when he called to a meeting at Malacañang last Monday former military and police generals to hear them out.

The presidential invitation came about after the officials and members of various organizations of retired police and military generals led by the Association of Generals and Flag Officers (AGFO) placed last Sept. 14 a full-page ad in The STAR opposing the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in its original form.

The “Manifesto” was signed on Sept. 11 by 31 retired police and military generals who head other organizations under the umbrella of AGFO Inc. AGFO is currently headed by retired Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan as chairman and president.

Based at the AFP Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, the AGFO is the premier organization looked up to by the men in uniform in the active service in both the military and police establishments. So whenever AGFO takes a stand, it reflects the “general” sentiments of men in uniform.

The “Manifesto of Retired Officers” expressed in detail their “great apprehensions and alarm” over the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and the BBL. The FAB, the CAB and the BBL are all products of the peace negotiations of the Aquino administration with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The signatories of the published manifesto all agreed that in its original form, the BBL is “seriously flawed.” Thus, they came up with their views on how to achieve “Security, Justice and Peace in Mindanao for All!” as the alternative solution that would bring all stakeholders to support it, including the MILF.

They also claimed that these agreements insidiously undermine national security and wrongly presume the rebel MILF to be representative of the major stakeholders, such as the Sultanate of Sulu, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Lumads or indigenous people and the Christians.

The validity of the FAB and the CAB is pending before the Supreme Court (SC) after various petitions were filed against the agreements. The BBL, on the other hand, is going through the legislative mill in both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the 16th Congress. Despite the BBL being certified as urgent administration bill by President Aquino, the two chambers have relegated it to the backseat and are currently prioritizing the passage of the proposed 2016 national budget.

“We know now that the present administration has been so obsessed with putting an end to the conflict in Muslim Mindanao that its peace panel has given extraordinary concessions as demanded by the rebel group, apparently to achieve peace at any price, in settlement coaxed chiefly by Malaysian facilitators, with advice from foreign intervenors, and thereby producing the FAB, and the CAB and the draft BBL that will implement these two agreements,” the Manifesto read.

The retired senior military and police officers concluded “that the implementation of the crafty agreements is in reality, an express trip to the dismemberment of the country and the creation of a Moro state in Mindanao as well as presaging not the much-hoped-for-lasting peace and robust socio-economic growth of Mindanao but the renewal of organized violence and horrendous destruction of life and property.”

With such bold and audacious tenor of the “Manifesto,” President Aquino deemed it best to listen to what these ex-generals have to say even though they came out from nowhere.

The President was obviously blind-sided by this belated development coming from the ex-generals at this stage of the BBL in Congress.

Invited to a “merienda” meeting at Malacañang with the incumbent Commander-in-Chief were signatories to the “Manifesto,” who included at least five former chiefs of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and one former director-general of the Philippine National Police (PNP). Prior to the Palace meeting, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin first met with them at Camp Aguinaldo to officially convey the presidential invitation.

The “Manifesto” signatories were, namely, erstwhile AFP chiefs of staff: retired Generals Renato de Villa, Generoso Senga, Alexander Yano, Efren Abu, and Dionisio Santiago; and ex-PNP chief Umberto Rodriguez. None of the signatories involved any retired P-Noy generals.

When first asked to comment about the “Manifesto,” P-Noy lamented some of the generals who signed it even sat with him during Cabinet meetings at Malacañang. Although he did not name names, he may be referring to the likes of retired Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim (from the RAM Foundation Inc.), a former deputy customs commissioner and Adan, who served as executive director of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFACom) until last year.

We had the opportunity to discuss with ex-Gen.Santiago and former Coast Guard commandant, retired Commodore Carlos “Chuck” Agustin about their meeting with the President. At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay breakfast forum at Luneta Hotel last Wednesday, we asked the two ex-generals why they were making noise against the BBL only now.

“You cannot expect those in active service to voice out their opinions,” Santiago pointed out. But since they are retired, they can now speak their mind because they are no longer in the uniformed service.

Santiago clarified they are not opposed to the pursuit of peace in Mindanao. “Nobody would go against peace,” Santiago swore. A veteran of the Mindanao campaign in the early 70s as a young Army lieutenant, Santiago cited men in uniform are the real men of peace. While they are ready to die for their country, they would rather live in peace than lose their lives and especially innocent civilians caught in the crossfire of armed fighting among Filipinos.