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Saturday, August 23, 2003
I won't abolish PMA: Gloria tells cadets
By Harley F. Palangchao
BAGUIO -- President Arroyo assured the 1,009 cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Friday night that she would not abolish the premier military institution in the country.
But Arroyo told cadets, "I expect you to uphold the highest standards of integrity, courage and loyalty -- not loyalty to peers, classmates or PMAers, but of integrity to what is noble and worthy, what is right and good for our nation and people."
"(Just) stick to the code of honor and the chain of command," she added.
She said she is with them in their "desire for equity and reform in the Armed Forces and that effort to rebuild the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) starts here."
"The big AFP clean-up has begun," she announced, adding that a task force for procurement reforms has been set up "to box out unscrupulous contractors."
The President added that she would modernize the system so that discretion can be scaled down and accountability increased.
She furthermore said that this week, pending financial review, she ordered the suspension of all military infrastructure projects, except the building of barangay roads and schoolhouses, core shelter projects in war-torn areas, detention centers and hospital improvements.
Arroyo also instructed the task force, the membership of which is still being selected, to take a closer look at the operations of military financial institutions and "institute more effective controls in the use of petroleum products and munitions, with the end view of moving more logistics to the field."
She added that she is also putting a stop to the practice of conversion by setting up "a system by which critical requirements needed at the moment's notice will be supported under effective controls...so that all contingency funds of the major services will be subject to full audit."
The President said she came to PMA "not to demonize the officers and soldiers who went to Oakwood" but to have a "heartened talk" with the cadets.
She said she "would appreciate it very much if you could dispel any preconceived thoughts that I am an arrogant President."
"I know I can be contentious and perhaps overbearing sometimes, but we all have our strengths and weaknesses...anxieties and fears. I do not harbor notions of superiority over my fellow human beings, including subordinates in the civilian and military service," she stressed.
But the President lamented, referring to allegations earlier made by Sen. Panfilo Lacson against her husband, that there is an "insidious attempt to sideswipe the presidency because nobody has so far dug up anything that can put my office in bad light."
She said the controversy spawned by Senator Lacson has nothing to do with her work as the chief executive. She also said that she does not interfere with her husband's private business and neither does the First Gentleman interfere with the affairs of the state.
"I am married to our country," Arroyo stressed, adding that she is "drawing a clear line between the purely private matters that are being imputed against my husband and the issues of governance being attended by the presidency. My husband is not a ward of the Palace and if charges are filed against him which we hope will be done, he will mount his legal defenses independently."
The President firmly stressed that neither her husband nor any other member of the First Family enjoys "a mantle of political protection."
"I am not going to intervene. The Palace is not a legal refuge of the First Family," she said resolutely.
Arroyo said that it is high time for the country to break away from the "excessive preoccupation with politics, and even with militics."
She said that energies must be consolidated towards the public order and development, and especially the fight against poverty, terrorism, crime and corruption.
She also noted that after the failed mutiny last July 27, she has heard many negative things said about the PMA.
"Those in the extreme said the PMA should be abolished. There are those who say the cadets are spoiled and live in an idyllic world so detached from reality that is why they become lost dreamers when they were shocked by the realities in the field. Some say the mistah culture had bred corruption and cover-ups as well as blind loyalties to the wrong causes..."
Arroyo said that as president, she does not believe that the cadets are spoiled, empty dreamers and wayward idealists.
"I respect you as soldiers of the people," the President declared. Sun.Star Baguio
(August 23, 2003 issue)
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