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By Harley Palangchao, Correspondent
and Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
President Gloria Arroyo called on
this year’s Philippine Military Academy graduates to “help keep
the nation safe, secure and moving forward.”
President Arroyo was the guest of
honor and speaker of the 103rd commencement exercises of Baghawi (Bagong
Halaw ng Lahi) Class of 2008.
Making her traditional address
before the latest batch of military officers at the country’s
premier military academy in Baguio City, the President said,
“We’re investing in you, the great Filipino soldier,”
expressing confidence that the 220 newly commissioned junior
officers “will be leaders of character” and “strong pillars of
a military free from corruption.”
“The people of the Philippines
are tired of the politics of division and despair. They want you,
Baghawi Class, to keep our nation safe, secure and moving forward.
Every Filipino wants a good job, food on the table, and sound
education,” she added.
According to the school’s
superintendent, Maj. Gen. Leopoldo Maligalig, the Baghawi class is
the product of the innovations in training contained in the
academy’s Road Map 2015, a program aimed at turning the academy
into the premier leadership school in the land. It is also aimed at
insulating cadets from politics and molding them into soldiers
defending the Constitution at all costs.
Mrs Arroyo, in her speech,
announced new benefits for military personnel, including upgrades of
hospitals and P1 billion for housing for soldiers and their
families.
“The 2008 budget also allocates
P12 billion or a 10-percent increase in basic salary of civilian
military and uniformed personnel starting this July,” she said.
The President reminded the new
officers of the military’s deadline to end the insurgency problem
by 2010 and also announced the procurement of more helicopters and
automatic weapons for troops.
“I congratulate your
predecessors in the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines], your
seniors, because as of last year we have succeeded in cutting in
half the number of active insurgency, compared to where we were in
2001,” she said.
This prompted a reply from the
Armed Forces chief, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., after Mrs. Arroyo
delivered her speech, “We are confident that we can achieve our
target.”
The President said the government
has set aside P1 billion in the P1.227-trillion budget for the
“Kalayaan Barangay” project, “to help you win the war against
insurgency by winning the hearts and minds of the people.”
She told the graduates that the
government is working to combat the corruption that plagues the
nation, through the establishment of a procurement transparency
group.
The group monitors 40 priority
projects, including the petroleum, oil and lubricants procurement of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“We do this because an
essential part of building a modern nation in these trying times is
to have a military as strong and modern as the nation it serves,”
Mrs. Arroyo said.
The government has invested in
the academy, in new and better military equipment, more and better
military training, and more cooperation with allies in
professionalizing the military, she added.
The President also told the
officers that her government will disburse almost P12 billion from
the 2008 budget of the Office of the President to increase the basic
salary of military and civilian personnel of the military starting
in July.
Speaking for the graduates, Cadet
First Class, now Navy Ensign, Ariel Rallos, the class valedictorian,
urged his “mistahs” (batchmates) to become “agents of positive
change.”
“We should be agents of
positive change that would make a difference, the PMA difference. We
should exercise the knowledge and skills that we have learned from
the officers and instructors who have been instrumental in our
successful cadetship,” Rallos said in his speech.
“Our class has been at the
receiving end of many changes in cadet curriculum. There have been
some paradigm shifts implemented during the course of our
training,” he added. According to him, the Road Map 2015 made them
aware of becoming true leaders.
“With the establishment of the
Road Map 2015, the PMA has its end mission of developing, not only
successful military men, but also leaders of character,” Rallos
said.
Meanwhile, the nongovernment
Cordillera People’s Alliance scored the alleged dispersal of
protesters who had gathered before the gates of the Mansion House in
Baguio around 6 p.m. on March 18. Mansion House is the summer
residence of the First Family.
“This [dispersal] is nothing
but a curtailment of the freedom of speech and expression, and
freedom of assembly and mobility of the protesters,” the group
said in a statement.
The demonstrators were carrying
placards and streamers calling for accountability on the part of
Mrs. Arroyo on various issues of alleged corruption.
Five protesters were arrested and
detained at Sub-Station 3 of the Baguio City Police Office but were
later released.
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