A WEEK before his retirement, Armed Forces
chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon yesterday told officers involved
in attempts to overthrow the Arroyo government that leading
the country is not the job of the military.
"You are in the service to serve the people and not to
attempt to grab power and lead this country. That is not your function," said
Esperon following a testimonial flight by the Air Force in his honor.
Esperon was a major factor in quelling the alleged attempt
led by his PMA classmate, former Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, and
former Scout Ranger chief Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim to overthrow the Arroyo
government in February 2006.
Esperon, then Army chief, had earlier said that when Lim and
Col. Ariel Querubin informed then AFP chief Gen. Generoso Senga of their plan to
march to Edsa to withdraw support for Arroyo, he told the two officers that he
was going to stand in their way.
When he became AFP chief, Esperon convened a court martial to
try Miranda, Lim, Querubin and 25 other Marine and Army officers for offenses
that included mutiny and conduct unbecoming. In November 2007, Lim and Sen.
Antonio Trillanes - a key player in the short-lived Oakwood mutiny in July 2003
- mounted the Manila Peninsula Hotel siege.
While at the hotel, Lim read a statement, withdrawing support
from President Arroyo on corruption and legitimacy issues.
"You were given arms, firearms for that matter, so that you
could use that in the service of the country, not in the service of yourself. So
what can I say to them? Well, I have to be harsh because that's my mandate and
military law is harsh. That's part of my job but that's my conviction," said
Esperon. "As far as the destabilizers are concerned, we have the military
justice system working, it's seeing its due course. So I must think we have
instilled among our ranks the correct attitude."
Esperon, who assumed as AFP chief in July 2006, said he is
leaving a "very much" stronger military. "But we owe that to the cumulative
efforts of all previous commanders who have gone against people that are out to
destabilize the organization and the nation itself. It's a joint effort by all
your forces and we are happy to have followed the correct path."
Last week, a website of supposed military rebels renewed
charges that Esperon took part in the rigging of the 2004 presidential election
results in favor of President Arroyo, that he brought cash that was distributed
to poll watchers in Sulu, and that he asked a military commander to tamper with
the results of the polls in Tawi-Tawi.
Esperon said he has a copy of the document containing the
charges against him. "I know there are a lot of fabrications that went into it.
If they have any evidence, then they should come out. Otherwise, they remain to
be gripers who fabricate charges but are never willing to come out in the open,
hiding under what we may call a private e-mail group."
Asked if he knew who were behind the spread of the document, Esperon replied
that many are civilians. "Never mind who they are but many of them have not even
been in the service, they do not know what soldiery is all about," he said.
- Victor Reyes
