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An Army general best recognized from hailing from the tumultuous
southern Philippines has assumed leadership of the 113,000-strong
Philippine military Monday. Gen. Alexander Yano’s appointment
comes at a time when talks between the government and Muslim
secessionists are teetering.
Yano replaced Gen. Hermogenes Esperon who has
reached the mandatory retirement age of 56.
Yano is the first officer from Mindanao to be
appointed as Armed Forces chief of staff, a position traditionally
viewed with suspicion by those from the southern Philippines where
sporadic wars have erupted throughout the generations.
Peace negotiations are well under way with the
10,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front but the talks are
stalled over the scope of territory to be given them.
President Gloria Arroyo acknowledges that “
there are political dynamics and we are working to sort them out,
but I can think off nothing more desirable for the people in
Mindanao and our nation than peace during our administration and,
hopefully, peace during the tour of duty of the son of Mindanao as
[chief of staff].”
Asked how he would address the Muslim rebellion
and rising Islamism in his native southern Philippines, Yano says
that the mechanisms to resolve the problem are available out and all
that is needed is carry them through.
As for the impending withdrawal of foreign
ceasefire monitors from Mindanao, Yano is confident that their local
counterparts are competent to keep up with the task.
Yano acknowledges that family feuds or rido have
always been a problem in the southern Philippines, but noted that
there is little reason to believe that localized fightings will
trigger another war.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita says that
Yano’s appointment is also meant to underscore the importance of
the peace process for the government. “We hope that Yano’s
appointment will send the MILF and the people of Mindanao a message
that with the designation of a guy from Mindanao they will
understand the degree of importance and significance that the
national leadership of President Arroyo is giving to the peace
process,” Ermita said after the turnover ceremony at Camp
Aguinaldo.
But clinching a peace deal in Mindanao is only
one of Yano’s tasks.
An impoverished nation, the Philippines also
faces a three-decades old Maoist insurgency as well as an undying
threat of a coup d’etat from officers disillusioned over how
politicians used the uniformed service to their own ends.
Arroyo gave Yano these additional marching
orders: “As chief of the (Armed Forces of the Philippines), you
are expected to bring the antiinsurgency campaign as from a snowball
to an avalanche towards the defeat of the rebels by 2010.”
These were the same orders she gave Esperon, a
bemedalled officer made notorious by allegations of his role in
helping Arroyo win the presidency in 2004.
In his valedictory address, Esperon boasted that
his 22-month term saw the strength of the communist New People’s
Army weaken from 7,200 men to just about 5,760.
Twenty guerrilla fronts were dismantled from the
107 fronts while another 14 were weakened for the same period.
He also pursued legal action against junior
officers who attempted to topple Arroyo in the so-called Magdalo
mutiny in 2004.
A small group of these putschists, led by Sen.
Antonio Trillanes, continues to question Arroyo’s legitimacy and
the loyalty to the country of the military officers supporting her.
“Today the last of your Garci generals retires
from the military,” says Trillanes in an emailed statement. He was
referring to the ‘Hello, Garci’ scandal where an elections
official named military officers who supposedly helped cheat for
Arroyo in the presidential polls.
“Keep him close for he is rare among us in
uniform: an officer willing to prostitute his own institution just
to keep you, a fake president in power,” continues Trillanes, who
remains under military custody.
But while Trillanes and key other Magdalo
officers remain steadfast in their campaign against Arroyo, a
greater number of mutineers have renewed their pledge to the
military chain of command.
Last month, Magdalo leaders Army Capts. Gerardo
Gambala and Milo Maestrocampo and seven other junior officers
pleaded guilty to coup d’etat charges and applied for presidential
clemency.
Esperon, who headed the units where Gambala and
Maestrocampo served prior to the mutiny, recommended that Arroyo
approve the pardon.
Arroyo announced she granted Esperon’s request
on the day of his retirement.
Expecting that the pardon could come under fire,
Esperon said that the pardon granted to Gambala’s group sends a
message: “The military justice system and the justice system of
the land is working and it’s taking its due course.”
johnnavg@hotmail.com
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