Military rebellion for beginners

There are two types of military personnel. Those graduated in PMA and the enlisted men. The enlisted men are just the pawn and the brains of the organization are those who graduated in PMA. If there is something wrong in the military today it is therefore right to assume that there is something wrong with the way PMA educate these soldiers. Maybe it’s time to abolish the PMA and just let these military study abroad. This is the same as UP, it became a symbol of opposition rather than harmonious relations among us.

If we really do not want the military to be politicized then we should ban the military appointment in the government. The government is a civilian in nature and therefore we do not need military personnel in the public office. Therefore it will be clear that a military is a soldier and a politician is a politician, One can not have it all/both. Once a general is retired from the service it means he is retired and should be ban to run for any public office.

Remove all the military camps from the city (an administrative office not more than a 100 personnel can be allowed). Relocate these camps in an island away from the seat of the government and let the PNP exercise its power within the city. If we do not have enough police force, then stop recruiting soldier and instead double the recruitment of the Police force who is civilian in nature. Fortify NBI and let it answerable to the congress not to the president

“…If there is something wrong in the military today it is therefore right to assume that there is something wrong with the way PMA educate these soldiers. Maybe it’s time to abolish the PMA and just let these military study abroad. This is the same as UP, it became a symbol of opposition rather than harmonious relations among us…”

It’s easy to pin the blame on the PMA for everything that’s wrong in the AFP. The same fingerpointing is the very justification by the PNP to put up it’s own academy. Well, what do you get? Policemen who are as corrupt as their predecessors. Maybe even more.

Now, if you are speaking of the rebellious few, these are the exception who took their idealism with them to their actual service of country after graduation and chose to live an uncomfortable life on the edge when the situation called for it.

Gen. Danny Lim could have kept his idealism to himself and scratched his balls until his lapels are filled with more stars. He might have even made it as AFP comptroller and like Garcia, enrich himself, become a naturalized foreign national, and take out hundreds of thousands of dollars in suppliers’ “gifts” whenever any member of the family leaves.

Maybe, too, had Col. Ariel Querubin remained apathetic and allowed his highly-disciplined Marines to be used as instruments in more cheating in the future, he might even become Chief-of-Staff and retire as ambassador to a first-world nation and enjoy jet-set priveleges backed by an unlimited expense account.

These people know the consequences of their actions yet despite the odds, chose to convince their superiors to join their cause in fulfilling their oath as protectors of the people. Real putschists who grab power for themselves just shoot their superiors point blank.

And regarding UP, you obviously don’t belong there. UP is a symbol of idealism, independence, and excellence. But don’t worry, these days, even UP has gone mainstream and fast becoming an institution for the social elite. Look at all the parking lots, hardly can you find a space in almost all the buildings that the cars are parked in the streets. A spectacle you thought you’d see only in neighboring Ateneo or the distant La Salle.

Sure, there are still the activists but very few in the mold of a Tañada, or a Diokno, or an Aquino. People who would sacrifice to walk the extra mile, at the risk of life or limb, to stand up against injustices and inequalities are indeed a rare breed in these days.

You may be right, maybe its time to close these schools. They now produce more and more of people who just want to get screwed in their puckered hole to preserve the status quo, and “move on” until it’s their turn to screw the next ones.

Heavens help us.

Correction mac.bh, not all officers of AFP are PMAers. Some are professionals commisioned to be officers, and some are ROTC graduates..and the most infamous ROTC graduate is Gen. Fabian Ver.

Kaya lang sikat ang mga PMAer officers dahil masyado silang binibeybi, tuloy lumalaki ang ulo at lagi nilang iniisip na sila ang makakapag-pabago ng buhay ng mga Pilipino. Megalomaniac kumbaga. At kaya nabuo ang RAM, dahil na rin sa inggit ng mga PMA grads sa mga bata ni Ver, pero kung produkto ng PMA ang Chief of Staff at sila-sila ang mga nakapila sa promotion walang nag-aaklas.

I think it’s not the institution per se, PMA man yan o ROTC parehas tinatablan ng bala ang mga yan. Ang dapat lang, habang Junior Officer pa lang at maikli pa ang sungay pinuputol na yan at sinisipa na sa serbisyo.

tongue in, anew

It has come from your own facts……“The same fingerpointing is the very justification by the PNP to put up it’s own academy.” …… It is therefore been known that problem exist in the PMA education and the solution was to form an academy that is civilian in nature. However, the failure of PNP Academy is another issue of leadership. We are talking of institution here that instead of making good breed of leadership become a source of lost ideals. Surely the foundation of education in this institution must be changed if not remove.

I do not think that a rebellious few is as right term, when we have rebellious soldier again and again and new names appear it is become a fact of the source, they are more than a few.

Sure I do not belong in UP that is suppose to be a school for the people and yet it cost more to study there than any other private school around the block. It is not the issue here anyway. The issue is it become a ground of political hostilities and created people who are now the main enemy of the estate. A true politician are those people that do not take the street as their parliament, true politicians are those who knows the art of politics who use the chamber as the right venue, silently work it out as written in the existing rules and despite of the odds will able to convince the majority to take its course.

At least we agree on something, close UP and let the government provide an ordinary school where people study in an ordinary way accessible to the many not to the few.

Naykika:

Of course the problem is deeper than UP and PMA, but making something of the known facts is a start of solving issues and problems towards a better future. Generally your analysis is right no matter what it is the people attitude that command, it is therefore going back to education. We need to change the education and we can start that from abolishing school that breed lost ideals.

scud_1975:

I stand to be corrected scud, and thank you for the info. However Ver became an officer not because of what he is, he became an officer because of blood connection, we all know that. And though there maybe some officers out of PMA they are not a force to recon with and therefore it is not the source of the problem.

If you may notice it is the junior officer who are the most vocals when it come to coup, therefore the education they get from PMA is still very fresh in their mind. The conclusion of that fact is there is something wrong in their fundamental education out of PMA. These young officers are those who established different organization within the organization, they are the lost ideals of PMA.

I find the ‘withdrawal of support’ imprecise as to Lim’s intent and justification; ‘Renewal of Pledge to Uphold and Defend the Constitution’ is a clearer context.

In pursuing this point, i’m hoping that the restiveness among our soldiers be chanelled along this line, the constitutional high-ground, by a ‘renewal of pledge to uphold and defend the constitution’ .

1)”A Renewal of Pledge and an Affirmation of Loyalty to the Constitution!”.

2) Affirms, and clarifies that, his sworn support is to the office not the person of the Commander-in-Chief;

3) Questions the legitimacy of the GMA’s assumption to the office of the commander in chief: Is it in accordance with the constitution that the soldiers have sworn to defend?

4) Questions GMA’s right to remain in office and;

5) Invokes his moral right as a citizen and as a soldier to the sanctity and honor of his pledge, that the Constitution that he has sworn to uphold and defend with his life and his honor, not be violated and desecrated, in any way by, any official, civilian or military, including and especially, by the president and commander-in-chief of the Republic.

Mac.bh, you misunderstood my post.

I should’ve specified further that the non-PMA policemen were always bypassed come promotion time in favor of Peemayers at the time when the PNP (then known as PC-INP)was still under the AFP. After the PNP Law was passed, it shed its military character and became civilian in nature. That brightened hopes for non-Peemayers to become police top brass but still it hardly saw light as the Ayers still dominated the highest posts. All the more widening the divide between the two groups.

Whether the creation of the PNP Academy has changed this is doubtful. Which ends in the conclusion that both academies may be teaching their students the best they can, but fraternal origin still rules. And of course, their politico-sponsors always have the last say.
It’s the people not the school.

Even your theory of sending the military abroad to study, because the PMA is teaching wrong, will not stop soldiers from planning mutinees. Look, Gen. Danny Lim was a West Point topnotcher, and Fort Benning Infantry Course topnotcher, aside from topping the local PMA exams (which he took while he was a UP freshman), he also topped the Scout Ranger Course and the Command and General Staff Course. His superior military education, foreign and local, has obviously contributed strongly to his, er, rebellious character.

I still maintain it’s a rebellious few. There are more than one hundred generals and officers are about ten thousand. To make a sweeping generalization based on the acts of a few soldiers is a big mistake.

You say “Sure I do not belong in UP that is suppose to be a school for the people and yet it cost more to study there than any other private school around the block”.

UP has been implementing socialized tuition, meaning those who have less shall pay less and those with more shall pay more. Students are required to provide their families’ income tax returns upon admission and this determines their tuition fees.

I’m sorry, but if by “around the block” you mean the Diliman campus, which is adjacent to very expensive schools Ateneo and Miriam College, you have your facts wrong. The other school in the neighborhood, PSBA, may even be collecting higher fees than those paying the lowest brackets in the socialized tuition structure.

The reason why, as I said, parking spaces are scarce is because more affluent people believe they can’t get the same brand of education elsewhere at the same cost. Secondly, the quality of graduates public high schools have been producing leaves much to be desired, even their honor students flunk the UPCAT entrance tests. I don’t know if student demographics will bear me out on this but as I see it, the poor are fast becoming a minority of the student population.

Politics is a different ballgame. It has, and will always be, the playground of the elite. Those whose interests cannot be served by the breed of horse-trading politicians we have in congress today make their voices heard desperately even if just among themselves.

The parliament of the streets is no longer a monopoly of UP. Today, PUP appears to have taken the cudgels as the seat of student activism as its Diliman cousin has increasingly gone the way of the elites.

Close PMA and UP? Nah, I was just being polite when I said you may be right. Read between the lines.

I agree with Stoxbnx3 who says we can’t deprive the country of a Randy David, a Shiela Coronel, or a Malou Mangahas, and a lot, lot more. Nor can we deprive it of a Honasan, a Trillanes, or a Lim, and a lot, lot more.

Ambuot Saimo, I think it’s quite unfair that your definition of the ordinary soldier who in your words is a yes ma’m or robot type is brainless and an attack dog. That’s rather a sweeping statement. In fairness to all the Filipino soldiers, a good soldier is disciplined to follow orders and not to break the chain of command. If they must speak out their minds publicly and not course it through the chain they are free to do so but first they should resign their command. If they cannot do this then they have no business serving in the military. They cannot have the best of two worlds. This is why there is a common saying that there is dictatorship in the military because of the strict discipline it imposes.

Obviously, you meant those soldiers who refused to break the chain of command are ass lickers and not “enlightened,” to use your words. I cannot believe that you would prefer your “enlightened” soldiers to have political predilection as well so that if they disagree with government policies or whenever things are not done their way they could rebel and bring down governments. If that is the csase, we might as well install a military junta.

Jester,

This expression, “all right sir?”, is an old PMA tradition and the one asked is supposed to tell the truth. This is part of the Honor Code of the PMA which says a cadet does not lie, does not steal, does not cheat. Now, how many of the top officers in the military today that came from the PMA can stand up and honestly answer yes to that question?

No, Jester, nobody loses his life for merely asking that question. They just don’t bother asking it any more. If they did, and if every single one of them followed the traditional Honor Code, we would have had the only virtuous outfit in the country.

I make this distinction apropos of Abuot Saimo’s rather harsh sweeping statement, unfairly demeaning to ordinary Filipino soldiers.