INQUIRER.net Eleksyon 2007

Sen. Arroyo: Let’s not condemn entire AFP

Inquirer

Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.

ILOILO CITY, Philippines -- Reelectionist Sen. Joker Arroyo is urging the public to go slow in condemning the entire military for the unusually high number of unresolved killings of militants under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration.

In a press conference of the TEAM Unity candidates at the Sarabia Hotel here Sunday, Arroyo said the soldiers had, on the whole, remained “loyal” to the state and “faithful” to their duty of laying down their lives for their country.

“There might be some in the military (who are responsible for the killings) but certainly not all. That is what is contained in the Melo report which stated that only certain elements and not the entire force are guilty,” he said, referring to the investigation conducted last year by a commission headed by retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Jose Melo.

“How can we condemn our soldiers who are willing to die for us? We condemn the killings but we should not condemn the entire AFP.”

Arroyo pointed out that if the military had not been loyal to democratic ideals, the country would have easily fallen to a military junta in February last year when a faction of officers and soldiers plotted to oust the President.

The senator said military rule would have been “worse” for the country because the soldiers could have done anything they wanted under a junta.

“What would have happened when the rebellious elements they (the opposition) had cheered on took control? They cannot speak in forked tongue,” said Arroyo.

A veteran human rights lawyer who, at 80, is the oldest senatorial candidate on the campaign trail, Arroyo had been silent in recent months on the controversy surrounding extrajudicial executions, leaving Bro. Mariano “Mike” Velarde, leader of the 5 million-strong El Shaddai charismatic group, scratching his head.

Last week, Velarde indicated that he might include Arroyo in the list of 12 senatorial candidates who, he said, he would endorse in the coming May elections because Arroyo is a brave man of high principles -- qualities that he thought a member of the upper chamber should possess.

‘Wrong is wrong’

But Velarde asked: “Why is he (Arroyo) not speaking on the political killings? If you have unwavering principles, what is wrong is wrong.”

At the Iloilo news conference, Arroyo and the rest of the Team Unity members declared they did not favor a move to revive the anti-subversion law as part of ongoing efforts to clamp down on individuals and groups sympathetic to communism.

Arroyo noted that not even the military was a “monolithic organization” that blindly followed its leaders, citing difference of opinions on whether to outlaw communism.

Senatorial candidate Michael Defensor said that instead of going after communist sympathizers with “hammer and tongs,” the government should encourage them to bring their ideological battle to Congress.

“We should allow the communists to stay in Congress and let the military focus its fight versus the armed component of the group, the New People’s Army,” said Defensor.

During a campaign stop in Ormoc City in Leyte on Saturday, Arroyo urged the administration to ignore the US Senate inquiry that began last week in Washington into the alleged murders of more than 830 militants since Ms Arroyo became President in 2001. The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s count is 295.

‘No business’

“They have no business looking into it,” Arroyo said. “How low can we get in going and participating officially, investigating what is happening in the country? We can’t stoop lower.”

Senatorial candidate Edgardo Angara also said in Ormoc that any finding of the US Senate subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific on the alleged state-sanctioned killing of left-leaning persons was not binding on the Philippines.

“We may question it. The testimonies may not all be reliable. Some of them could come from polluted source,” Angara said.

But he said it was necessary for the Philippines to show that it was complying with international conventions on human rights because respect of human rights was an international concern, not just of the United States.

Sison’s fears

On Saturday, Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines on exile in the Netherlands, said that President Macapagal-Arroyo was out to get her enemies through the anti-terror law that takes effect after the May balloting.

He warned that the administration’s counterinsurgency campaign would spark more political killings.

“More people would be killed, abducted and made to suffer by Ms Arroyo’s allies in the military and police,” he said on his website. With reports from Cynthia D. Balana and Christine O. Avendaño

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