Friday, May 30, 2008 Sanchez: From hawk to dove By Benedicto Q. Sanchez Nature speaks
I ALWAYS thought of retired Chief-of-Staff Hermogenes Esperon as a hawk.
It comes as a total surprise that the GMA government has recycled him into a dove. GMA named Esperon to replace incoming Press Secretary Jesus Dureza as OPAPP chief.
Together with my civil society colleagues, we have worked closely with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) on peace building and human rights defense.
In 2006, after the RPA-ABB goons threatened to kidnap me in Sitio Melancholy, Barangay Celestino Villacin, I veered closer to Alter Trade, another victim of a non-state armed group. NDF-Negros spokesperson Frank Fernández had just issued a fatwa against Edwin Marthine Lopéz and Norma Mugar.
Alter Trace networked with OPAPP for a dialog on how best the state can protect our human rights from these armed groups. We met with Dureza, his staff Carla Munsayac-Villarta and Aylin José here in Bacolod.
I also got to visit the OPAPP office in Mandaluyong for a face-to-face dialog with RPMP-RPA-ABB topleader Veronica Tabara. Back then, the RPA-ABB was using the OPAPP office as their base.
Last year, I joined the Regional Kalahi Peace Convergence workshop in Iloilo. OPAPP, with UNDP funding, sponsored the event.
While there, I got to huddle with the AFP's top brass in Negros Island. I had a spirited and frank debate with them in our counter-insurgency workshop. I was with Lt. Cols. Sagat 'Bong' Bongolan and Franco 'Jojo' Gacal on the counter-insurgency workshop. Bongolan is the 303rd executive officer while Gacal is the commanding officer of the 11th Infantry Battalion.
I expected the army officers to be more gung-ho and hawkish. They didn't disappoint me, to my consternation. I was aghast that some were insisting on eliminating the legal Left. They were even hinting of getting rid of them through democratic debates to knock sense into their nonsense.
But as the workshops progressed, and we began to joke with one another to ease the tension, we began to call each other by our nicknames. Somehow, camaraderie began to develop.
The participants, including the military officials, began to talk of convergence, of bringing civilian governance in the ungoverned spaces of the hinterlands. I can sense the respect that each gave one another and began to see each other as fellow peacemakers. By the third day and end of the workshop, we began to exchange cell numbers and email addresses. Eventually, Bong and Jojo became textmates.
Then we moved on to common projects. When the Mediators for Peace hosted the December 10 peace and human rights dialog, I was surprised to see Lt. Col. Bongolan and his junior staff in civvies. OPAPP and the GRP peace panel also attended.
When they attended the MedPeace-sponsored dinner dialog with the Royal Norwegian Ambassador Hans Bratskkar, the military officials again came in civilian clothes. Again, OPAPP's senior staff was with us.
I interpreted that to mean that they have internalized a Kalahi Convergence resolution to civilianize-not militarize-the resolution of root causes of the armed conflict. Notwithstanding their crew-cuts, wearing civilian clothes was a well-appreciated gesture of their solidarity with civilians.
I share my apprehension of Esperon's appointment as OPAPP head. As a longtime hawk, will he be up to the job? But I'm willing to give him the benefit of a doubt. I realize that the military's hawkish behavior is a subculture of the organization. Understandably, because they are warriors for war.
But having engaged different military officials in peace building and human rights defense, I also realize that the warrior subculture is not something written in stone. What is needed is more exposure with a different breed of warriors. What some might say warriors for peace who are willing to put their lives in the line to attain a just and lasting peace.
With Esperon's exposure with civilian peacemakers, he just might evolve from hawk to dove.
