Foremost, the Esperon’s term extension only raises more questions than answers. It only alienates the commander-in-chief as the appointing authority from the troops and, more dangerously, further drives as wedge between the AFP and the Filipino people given all the secrecy and the bungled handling of the event by the presidential parrot platoon.

For one thing, it is only a three-month extension and if you are talking about the long-term prospects of the AFP, those three months mean practically nothing. Is this so really a critical time, a make-or-break phase for the Strong Republic, as to require a three-month extension of the AFP chief of staff? That can only happen in case of a really grave national emergency such as a state of war, which is the primary justification for a term extension in the first place.

At best, we are just given by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo the lame explanation that Esperon’s term was extended "because there is a momentum in the campaign against the (New People’s Army) and (the officers of the AFP) are expecting a snowball in the several months." Honestly, if you ask me, we have the same chances of beating the NPA by 2010 as the proverbial snowball in hell.

If there is one thing we have to grudgingly concede to the local communist rebels as well as the Muslim insurgents, it is their staying power. They will always exist in some shape or form as long as the vast majority of Filipinos are poor. And, it does not help the AFP any to have its civilian leadership deluding themselves that the increasing economic numbers automatically translate into a beneficial trickle-down effect for the rest of the population. In the first place, it is never a good idea to be living off the crumbs of somebody else’s feast.

After three decades thereabouts of military service, I still do not get the logic of the move. Maybe, I needed more time in the military service to comprehend the "logic" behind the move and I should have availed of one of those tenure extensions myself. The move comes across as being whimsical, especially to the ordinary soldier. And, if there is anything our fighting men abhor more than a "whimsical" commander, it is a "whimsical" commander-in-chief. This will definitely just fuel restlessness within the ranks of the AFP, which already a top-heavy organization riddled with star-rank officers commanding battalion-size of organizations.

In my opinion, the move is also insulting to both Esperon and Yano. Esperon knows very well that he is retiring and to have his term extended to give him time to put into place critical programs, as one report puts it, only degrades his managerial and command capabilities. Every career soldier knows when he is supposed to go on forced retirement and is, naturally, expected to act accordingly. Thus, the term extension implies that Esperon did nothing to this effect.

On Yano’s part, the extension is also allegedly meant to serve as a transition period to help him get used to the position of AFP Chief of Staff. In plain English, transition periods translate to hand holding times and I do not think that, with Yano’s extensive command experience, he needs to have his hands held to assume the mantle of the AFP leadership.

This is plainly one bad move where there are no real winners. Not Esperon, not Yano, not the powers that be, not the AFP leadership nor its men in uniform and certainly not the Filipino people. But, if we really think, what else is new?