March 22, 2001, The Philippine Star, Stop bickerings, GMA orders military,

Enough is enough.

President Arroyo put her foot down yesterday on the squabbles in the military and rejected calls for the recall of the appointment of newly retired Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes as her new defense secretary.

In remarks during her visit to the Navy headquarters on Roxas Boulevard in Manila, the President directed Reyes and newly installed AFP chief Lt. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva to ensure that the wrangling among senior military officials would cease.

Mrs. Arroyo expressed confidence that with the completion of a major revamp in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), solidarity and normalcy would now take place.

At the same time, she ignored demands by leftist organizations for a reconsideration of her appointment of Reyes, who was accused of being pro-war, to the defense post.

The anti-Reyes quarters claimed that he might be a major stumbling block in the government’s peace initiatives with the communist and Muslim secessionist rebels.

Shrugging off the accusations, Mrs. Arroyo reaffirmed her trust and confidence in the leadership of both Reyes and Villanueva in unifying the military organization which was threatened by factionalism over the race for the top AFP post.

She said Reyes will "pursue our policy of peace with even more passion than he pursued the offensives barely a year ago."

"I hope that there will be no more bickering. Unity should be our operative word," the Chief Executive said.

She called on the troops to unite behind the Philippine flag, the Constitution and the people in the continuing battle against mass poverty.

The President reminded the troops of their commitment to uphold the soldier's code of ethics and the "values of honor, loyalty, valor, duty and integrity."

"We need these values to bind the entire military organization and to make it the true protector and defender of the Filipino people," Mrs. Arroyo said.

She urged the military and defense hierarchy to speed up implementation of the modernization program of the AFP.

Mrs. Arroyo also cited her appointment of Rear Adm. Victorino Hingco, a non-graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, as Navy flag officer-in-command. She said it was proof of her government's policy to promote soldiers on the basis of professionalism, merits and qualifications.

Meanwhile, re-electionist Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Gregorio Honasan III warned that divisiveness in the military might worsen unless the Arroyo administration takes preemptive measures.

"It will worsen and they might find it difficult to control," Enrile said in a press conference of the opposition coalition Puwersa ng Masa at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan.

He pointed out that the grumblings also involved the rank and file, or from sergeants to battalion commanders.

He likened the present situation obtaining in the military to the twilight of the Marcos era when the dictator and then AFP chief Gen. Fabian Ver maintained that they were still in control of the entire AFP.

In the case of the Arroyo administration, Enrile said the generals did not speak for their men when they announced their withdrawal of support from the Estrada administration at the height of the people power II last January.

Honasan said several officials have confided to him about their dissatisfaction because of perceived deficiencies in the AFP hierarchy.

He noted that people power II which ousted Estrada did not involve troop movements, unlike the 1986 EDSA revolt that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. -- Marichu Villanueva, Efren Danao