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================= Proposed Reforms in the AFP and PNP ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= in Venezuela: How Relevant to Other Developing Worlds ================= ================= The President is the Biggest Threat to Military Discipline ================= ================= Reinventing the Philippine Military ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= |
Abolishing the Marines Sen. Rodolo Biazon
It’s not just the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police (PNP) that President Arroyo wants merged as one Armed Forces. She and her loyal generals are also reportedly planning to do away with the Marines as a service unit of the AFP. This idea of “abolishing” the Marines, considered to be the military’s elite arm but whose members have proved to be a headache to Mrs Arroyo, as they have become more daring in testifying against the President on charges of massive poll fraud and other anomalies, was said to have been brought up during a recent National Security Council (NSC) technical group meeting, presided over by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales. Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, a member of the council being the chairman of the Senate national defense and security committee, has, however, remained tight-lipped on this piece of information. But he noted during the weekly breakfast forum in the Senate that this information is what is now spreading among the Marine corps, supported by the recent events, such as the cases involving former Marines chief Renato Miranda, Orlando de Leon and Ariel Querubin removals and the many Marines officers being targeted for court martial as shown by the leakage on the AFP investigation report by the Inspector General recommending court martial proceedings for First Scout Ranger Regiment Gen. Danilo Lim and 37 others all the more bolstered this allegation. But the senators’ remarks bolstered speculations of the Marines “abolition,” noting the recommendations made in the purported IG report effectively calling the removal not only of the ranking officers but even that of the general staff of the Philippines or J1 down to J8 that composes the entire personnel. “It is going to decapitate the Marines. And what is the effect of this to that organization?” he stressed during the Kapihan sa Senado, referring to the IG recommendation. Sought for confirmation on alleged plan to abolish of the Marines, Biazon instead gave this meaningful reply: “If I were the decision-makers, I would study that very well. A unit that had been relied upon in the past (by every administration in this country) will just be treated that way, I don’t know what the effect will be. We can only speculate and I dare not speculate because the consequences could be serious.” The senator said indeed there exist dissatisfied ranks in the Marines, dismayed elements who now strongly believe that the government wants to disband them. “In the first place, if there is no dissatisfaction in the rank-and-file, all of these will not happen. And remember that the causes of those moves, of those events that can only be referred to as instability, the root causes, are not yet resolved.” Allegedly, some groups within the Marines, which Biazon had commanded in the past, began to entertain the notion after the AFP investigation report on the Feb. 24 aborted coup and the Feb. 26 Fort Bonifacio standoff recommended court martial for virtually the entire top Marines in the hierarchy. “Now what we do not know is the extent of (restiveness) of this group. The only problem is, like a volcano, you do not know the degree of pressure from below that could cause an explosion. Even science cannot predict now much is pressure building up below. But if there is such plan to disband the Marines, the senator said he would caution against disbanding a unit that had been relied so much in the past, saying the consequences would be dire. More than the Army’s Scout Rangers, the Marines have proved to be a headache for the administration because some of its officers have dared to speak up on the alleged election cheating, especially on charges that some of their ranks were used to rig the 2004 elections, to the dismay of the proud Marine corps. Biazon also pointed out that there there seems to be no evidence to support an allegation of coup d’etat, mutiny, or inciting to sedition against Lim, some top officers of the Marines, including former colleague, Sen. Gregorio Honasan who had been implicated in the alleged February botched coup, that led him to go into hiding. Biazon said if the military leadership pushes ahead with charges against Querubin and other ranking Marine officers, the Marine Corps would be virtually wiped out. "It seems that the whole staff of the Philippine Marines are involved. It (charges) will decapitate the entire Marine Corps," Biazon said. He also said the leak of the tape showing Lim declaring his withdrawal of support from President Arroyo was just a trial balloon to measure the reaction of the Marine’s rank and file. Biazon said the "crime" of withdrawal of support is non-existent and could not be hurled against Lim. "Withdrawal of support, what kind of animal is that?" he said
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Mistrusting Our Elite Forces Romy Lim, Malaya,
FIRST, it was the unsettling news of the proposal to disband the elite Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) because of its alleged role in last February’s politico-military crisis that culminated in the dramatic Fort Bonifacio stand-off following the relief of its then commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda. What made it worse were the accounts that the Malacañang technical working group headed by national security adviser Norberto Gonzales even warmly applauded this idiotic, if not implausible, idea. Now it is the news that the elite First Scout Ranger Regiment (FSSR) of the Philippine Army is being "monitored" by the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Nolcom commander Lt. General Romeo Tolentino even speaks of unleashing his own military assets against the FSSR as if they were the enemy, boasting they are "many steps ahead" of preventing any alleged unauthorized troop movements. The FSSR, together with PMC as well as the elite Special Action Forces of the Philippine National Police (PNP), were the main units whose key officers were accused of planning a coup attempt. Then, there was the 2003 Oakwood incident that saw a lot of disgruntled soldiers, particularly those belonging to the Philippine Navy Special Warfare Group, another elite AFP unit, undertake a protest action to air their grievances against the present dispensation. There is a pattern emerging here, a disturbing and worrisome one. Those who have to do the brunt of the fighting are the ones least trusted by the power-that-be. All those kilos of medals awarded to the fighting men of the elite units seem to mean nothing in the end. Any avid student of Philippine military history should by now be wondering why the elite troops of the AFP and the PNP, too, always seem to be involved whenever actual or imagined coup attempts come to fore. It happened many times before during the recent politico-military crisis last February. It seems to be too much of a coincidence already. Is it simply because, as the elite special forces, they have no fixed area of operations unlike other regular units such as the standing PA divisions and, thus, become more exposed to the problems that beset our people on a national rather than local scale? It is a possibility. Or is it simply because the officers who command these troops are more often in the field and have less chances to "socialize" with and kowtow to the whims and caprices of the powers-that-be? Is it possible that they are just more aloof to the "graces" of any administration during its incumbency? That is also a possibility. Maybe, it is simply because the burden of competently commanding these elite troops must fall on a truly professional corps of officers given the rigors of their assignments. I speak from personal experience. And, I can honestly say that no fat-cat, armchair officer will ever garner the respect of the men under units like the PMC and the Scout Rangers in the field of battle. The constant danger of dying in the battlefield creates its own esprit de corps. This can also be true. Perhaps, it simply becomes a matter of informal tradition for these men or a case of chain of command paranoia since these units possess the specialized skills more likely to be needed in case of a coup attempt. Man-for-man, I would never estimate the worth of the regular units of the AFP. But, it you have to launch an assault on Malacañang via the Pasig River, you do not find that kind of training with our regular troops. Your best bet would be with the Marines or the SWAG. It is, therefore, worth considering as well. It may be any or a combination of the reasons I stated. It may even be something else. I might understand the paranoia of some segments of the chain of command against the elite forces of the AFP as well as the PNP. But that is not an excuse to treat them as second-class fighting men and women. What must be done is to decisively resolve the basic ills the institution and the country it is sworn to defend. Anything otherwise would only be stirring a tempest. =====================================
2 Marine Officers Quit
TWO ranking
officials from the Philippine Marines have resigned from their post
following the military leadership’s order for them and 38 other officers to
face a pre-trial, preparatory to court martial, in connection with the
failed plot to overthrow the Arroyo government last February 23.
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