Night of the Generals

It was a night President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made the generals’ day.

Barely two hours after returning from Pikit, North Cotabato where she inspected troops and visited displaced civilians at the Buliok complex, President Arroyo made a stunning entrance at the Taipan restaurant of the Tower Club in Makati City for a dinner hosted by STAR publisher Max Soliven and Stargate vice chairman Babe Romualdez for AFP chief Gen. Narciso Abaya. In a black sheath dress by Ito Curata, she looked none the worse after escaping an ambush attempt on her convoy in Pikit.

She related that she had insisted on visiting the Buliok complex no matter what, and declared to Abaya that she was staying put in Pikit "as long as it takes" until he had cleared the area.

In fact, some members of the elite Presidential Security Group who were part of the advance party to Buliok were certain the President wasn’t going to push through with her trip anymore because barely a kilometer from where she was going to land, there was an ongoing clash between government and MILF troops.

"Perhaps because he was more afraid of the consequences of missing Max’s dinner tonight, General Abaya had the area all cleared up and safe for me to visit," the President quipped as she nibbled on dimsum during the dinner.

What saddened her though was the revelation made during her visit by social workers that when they interviewed refugee children, the children declared that they wanted to be terrorists when they grew up because they wanted to be rich.

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The President was concerned about the SARS cases in Pangasinan, but was confident the Philippines could contain the disease.

"We have made contingency plans in the event of biological or chemical warfare, and some of the measures we are using to contain the SARS outbreak are part of these measures," she pointed out.

That night, with generals surrounding her, nothing seemed to faze Mrs. Arroyo. Not war, not SARS.

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The dinner brought together officers and gentlemen, most of them both officers and gentlemen.

"I have just come back from Pikit, North Cotabato where we joined the President in settling displaced families back to their homes in Buliok complex. The displacement was an aftermath of operations originally against kidnap-for-ransom groups and other criminal elements using Buliok complex as a safe haven from the arm of the low. The AFP has been criticized for launching an offensive, but we maintain that despite the unintended consequences, the operation was consistent with our mandate," Abaya said.

Aside from Abaya, present were Vice Admiral Ernesto de Leon (whose exploits in the Mindanao campaign are enough material for a Chuck Norris movie), former AFP chief Gen. Benjie Defensor, former Army chief and commander of the UN Peacekeeping Force in East Timor Lt. Gen. Jaime de los Santos. Also present were Ambassadors Francis Ricciardone of the US, Robert Collette of Canada and Theo Arnold of The Netherlands.

The President praised her generals, active and retired. She said Defensor’s contribution to doctrine was his concept of using the Air Force as the "First Force" in neutralizing enemy territory. And she said De Leon’s strategy of ramming Abu Sabaya’s boat first before attacking it with gunfire has also been cited internationally as good strategy.

It was a brief dinner, but in those 90 minutes, the President had patted the back of her generals with details of their heroic exploits.

She apparently has a long memory for the achievements of her men and when she recited these in public in the presence of people who count, she, without a doubt, made the generals’ day – even in the dead of night.

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