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Monday, August 18, 2003
PMA should have class on corruption: mutineer
By May Anne Cacdac
BAGUIO -- A soldier who joined the July 27 mutiny in Makati City is skeptical of President Arroyo's order for the defense department to integrate a coup d'etat subject as part of the curriculum of military schools in the country.
"I believe the government is missing the point," he told Sun.Star in a telephone interview, adding the coup d'etat attempts may be integral in the human personality but it is more a result of misguided governance.
The PMA alumnus of 2000, who is currently detained at Fort Bonifacio for participating in the failed July 27 mutiny, said "a victim of abuse will at one point take a stand to defend himself."
"Our means may have been drastic but still I believe this was not molded during our years at the academy but rather as a consequence of the corrupt system that we have seen in the 'real world'," he added.
He also said he pities the "plight of those cadets (in PMA). In there, we are taught to be idealistic. To keep our integrity intact. The officers-to-be will be in for the greatest shock of their lives once they get to go on field. The government is a mockery of the motto that we in the academy uphold."
The young officer stressed there is an irony to being a soldier.
"We keep on fighting a war that the higher ups don't want to end. Apart from this, the bullets that are meant to kill us are the same bullets given to us to be able to crush the enemy. But then again, I believe we are sleeping with the enemy."
Arroyo last week ordered the Department of National Defense (DND) and the National Defense College of the Philippines to include the coup d'etat subject in the curriculum of military schools "to help deter future coup attempts."
She said the subject should cover "coup d'etat conspiracies, operations and consequences."
But the rebel soldier instead suggested that the subject of governance be enhanced. "If they really want to push through with the subject of coup d'etat, then maybe we should look into integrating another subject -- corruption 101, its operations and consequences."
The PMA alumnus also lamented the way the tables have turned over in the course of the investigation on the short-lived mutiny.
"All of a sudden, it is (Lt. SG Antonio) Trillanes being charged for graft and corruption. I wonder if those members of the investigating panel could look at us straight in the eyes and tell us that they themselves don't have undeclared assets."
On the subject of a neuro-psychiatric exam being incorporated in the entrance test to the premier military institution, the cavalier said even this could be an avenue for corruption.
"Some examinees pass with the help of a 'backer' from the higher ranking officers in the military or some government official. Maybe they should start pointing the blame at themselves on why some cadets fail to meet their expectations."
It was reported in a national daily that a psychiatrist questioned the credibility of the neuro-psychiatric exams being administered on potential cadets.
The psychiatrist said such exams "should be sensitive enough to identify potential violators of what they are there for -- that is to protect our country, sovereignty and Constitution." Sun.Star Baguio
(August 18, 2003 issue)
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