Wagging the 'Kawal Pilipino'

THE PRESS CONFERENCE held by a group of disgruntled military officers calling themselves "Kawal Pilipino" (Filipino Soldier) on January 26 at a house in Alabang would almost be laughable if their charges didn't sound so plausible.

Standing behind two giant joined Philippine flags to protect their identities, the officers claimed that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was using the military to spy on her political rivals, and that she had given instructions to obstruct the campaign sorties of her presidential rivals. They called for a return to clean government and the resignation of Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

Now, a week and a half later, it turns out that the "Captain Gabay" who addressed the press conference is not really a military man but a law student called Baltazar Asadon, who claims it was Pastor "Boy" Saycon, secretary general of the Council on Philippine Affairs (COPA), who forced him to dress up in military fatigues and read Kawal's manifesto at the press conference. Saycon denies the charge and asked how he was supposed to have "forced" Asadon to speak to several journalists at the press conference that lasted for at least an hour. Other military officers involved in the group are now also claiming that Captain Edwin Navarro deceived them by luring them to the
press conference without fully telling them what would be said and for what purposes it would be used.

Several military officers who were involved in the Kawal Pilipino were initially to be charged with
sedition, but it is interesting to note that the government has now decided to charge them with minor offenses of desecrating the national flag and of conduct unbecoming of an officer. The government obviously doesn't have enough evidence that would stand up in court that they were plotting a coup, and has resorted to punishing them with lesser charges.

President Macapagal has naturally denied the charges, but in the surreal and dirty world of Philippine politics anything is possible and nothing should be discounted. What is for sure is that the military continues to be restive and divided between those who have access to power and those who do not.

Saycon fully admits to organizing the press conference, but denies that the group was plotting a
coup attempt. He claims that military officers, who did not graduate from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), were being treated like second-class citizens. Around 80 percent of the 12,000-man officers corps of the armed forces are non-PMA graduates.

Now the officers involved in Kawal Pilipino are trying to back out by claiming that Saycon tricked them into joining the press conference. This sounds false to me. Officers have brains and authority to resist being forced into a situation that they don't feel comfortable in, though one can imagine peer pressure in the military being something quite hard to successfully resist.

A full investigation of their grievances should be launched and steps should be taken to address them. A military in constant turmoil is not good for the security and stability of the nation, and only makes the military vulnerable to outside instigators who want to use the gripes of officers for their own nefarious ends. The whole nation should be warned.

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Tragedy during the Haj

THE HORRIFIC stampede that occurred last Sunday on the Jamrat bridge near Makkah, in which at least 244 Muslim pilgrims were killed, is a reminder of the logistical nightmare of having to accommodate two million pilgrims in a very limited space.

The annual Haj to Makkah is a pilgrimage that every able Muslim adult is supposed to undertake once in his/her lifetime. Although Saudi Arabia implements a strict quota system on the number of pilgrims that each nation can send to Makkah every year, the congregation of two million faithful on an area that is only a few kilometers square for four days is an incredible strain on the logistical and safety capabilities of Saudi Arabia.

Already suggestions have been poring in on how to make the Haj safer. Some have called for instructions to be posted on huge electronic signboards in more languages than just English and Arabic. With huge numbers of pilgrims from Indonesia and other non-English speaking countries, some have said that instructions should also be given over the loudspeakers in various languages.

This is all well and good in theory. The reality and problem is that when one is in a sudden stampede, as the one that happened on Sunday, the noise of screaming pilgrims is so loud that it drowns out any directions that the police give to the pilgrims to go a certain way. It is also doubtful that panicking pilgrims would be able or even inclined to read huge signboards flashing potentially life-saving instructions.

As usual, some pilgrims blamed this year's tragedy on elderly and frail pilgrims who fell down when pushed by the surging crowds, but the list of victims that I read had plenty of men in their 30s and 40s. Others blamed the stampede on pilgrims who were performing Haj without official permission, which is frankly ridiculous.

The fact of the matter is that stampedes such as the one that happened on Sunday can be averted if adequate crowd control measures are taken. Last year's Haj registered only 27 deaths, and no stampedes took place. Two hundred and forty-four deaths are too many. The organizers of the Haj have to find a solution to the logistics of having two million people descend upon a small area for four days every year.

Comments or questions? E-mail the author at manilamoods@hotmail.com.