Sins of omission?

The blunders of a general

ON WEDNESDAY, the Commission on Appointments conducted a hearing to confirm Army Col. Medardo Geslani’s promotion to brigadier general. However, Maguindanao Representative Zahid Mangudadatu also questioned the promotion. The congressman is the brother of Maguindanao Governor Esmael Toto Mangudadatu whose wife and other relatives were among those killed in the Ampatuan massacre.

What exactly did Geslani fail to do?

“It is a fact that, before the convoy of now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu set out on its ill-fated journey to Shariff Aguak to file his certificate of candidacy, Geslani and his former commanding officer, then Major General Alfredo Cayton, were among those whose help had been sought to provide security because of the very serious threats of violence that had already been floating about days before. These requests were ignored,” NUJP chair Rowena Paraan said.

It can be recalled that in the afternoon of January 19, 2010, widows and families of 13 journalists killed in the Ampatuan massacre filed criminal and administrative charges against then Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton and Col. Medardo Geslani before the Office of the Ombudsman.

REPORTERS in the Philippines light candles during a commemoration for the Ampatuan Massacre, the single deadliest attack on journalists in the world. Thirty-two media workers and reporters were murdered in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

One of the complainants, Myrna Reblando had alleged that Cayton, then chief of the 6th Infantry Division, was informed by her husband—Alejandro—about their coverage of the filing of Esmael Toto Mangudadatu’s certificate of candidacy for governor in the province. But the Cayton assured Alejandro that there was “no threat from the ground.” The Army’s 6th Infantry Division has jurisdiction over Maguindanao.

An Army internal investigation, however, had absolved Cayton and Geslani of any responsibility in the massacre while a subsequent investigation of the Ombudsman also cleared Geslani. Cayton was also promoted to lieutenant general and has since retired from military service.

InterAksyon.com quoted Army spokesman Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato on June 24, 2014 as saying that there is no legal impediment to Geslani’s promotion to brigadier general.

“All of the Army’s findings were forwarded to them (Ombudsman), then the Ombudsman conducted their own investigation. No legal impediment turned up in his case. It’s the Ombudsman that cleared him. You cannot be promoted without getting the Ombudsman’s clearance,” InterAksyon quoted Detoyato as saying.

Notwithstanding, Paraan insisted that the claims of Cayton and Geslani claims that they had no idea that something could go wrong with the Mangudadatu’s convoy is “nothing but a brazen lie.”

Paraan said that at least three days before the massacre, the provincial police of Maguindanao had set up checkpoints on the highway through which the convoy was expected to pass.

For their part, military officials had confirmed receiving information of the sightings of armed men believed to have been part of those who massacred the victims. But upon inspection the armed men turned out to members of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO) and that the checkpoints appeared to be legitimate and that the military do not have jurisdiction over the CVOs since they were civilian police volunteers.

“Surely, the vaunted intelligence network that the military never fails to boast of would have known of this,” she said.

She also pointed out that about two months before the massacre, a convoy of 50 journalists covering the mass evacuations caused by the fighting in Maguindanao at the time were summarily detained at a military outpost in the province. When they asked why they were being prevented from traveling freely and performing their jobs, the soldiers told them they were under orders of Geslani to stop “specifically the media.”

“Officers such as Geslani are not only a disgrace to the service and their uniform but are clearly a threat to our freedoms,” said Paraan.