Month: July 2006

(This piece by Malaya columnist JB Baylon first appeared in the July 7, 2006 issue of Malaya.)

The President of the Philippines yesterday condemned the missile testing by North Korea.

I am not exactly sure what else our president said beyond aping the remarks of US President George W. Bush, but effectively telling North Korea to behave are tough words from a Philippine president.

I wonder what we will say should North Korea decide to lob one missile or two our way in response.

Retired Commodore Rex Robles said the release of the tape showing Brig. Gen. Danny Lim announcing withdrawal of support from a “bogus president” is a “knife that can cut both ways.”

Malacañang may use it to support its claim that there was a planned attempt against Gloria Arroyo’s presidency, which is what presidential chief of staff Mike Defensor and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales have been crowing about since Monday when ABS-CBN first showed it in their reformatted late evening news, “Bandila”.

On the other hand, Robles said, it can also backfire because it allows Lim to disseminate his message publicly which is close to the hearts of military officers who have not lost their idealism. He noted that Lim and the officers implicated with him, like Col. Ariel Querubin, are bemedalled and respected. “They are credible,” he said.

There’s no doubt, at this point, that the classroom hours spent by Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and Mike Arroyo together have produced a special relation worth sacrificing national interests and risking damage of institutions.

It is clear that Malacañang is protecting Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos. Malaya yesterday carried a story by Peter Tabingo exposing a 45-page findings by the Ombudsman’s panel of investigators dated June 23, 2005 on the P1.3 billion stink that was the Comelec-Mega Pacific Solutions poll automation deal.

Tabingo reported the 2005 resolution categorically stated that “With regard to the liability of the Comelec Chairman and the Commissioners, this Office finds that probable cause exists for charging them with a violation of Section 3 (e) (of RA 3019) except (Commissioner) Rufino SB Javier (who) has not participated in the award of the project as he was then on official business trip.”

Isn’t this interesting?

Juris Soliman, Mike Arroyo’s chief of staff, told reporters covering the Arroyo’s sojourn to the Vatican, Italy, and Spain, what a lovely sight it was seeing the Arroyo couple holding hands while shopping last June 27.

“There were no politicians, no meetings and no cellular phones. They were just there for family bonding and for spiritual upliftment,” the devoted Soliman said.

“THOSE times when Iraqi insurgents would attack American facilities in Baghdad with rockets and mortars, I would ask myself, is this worth the $3,000 a month I’m here for?”

JP (for understandable reasons, we are not giving his real name) was sharing with us, one afternoon last week, his experience as security specialist for Private Military Contractors (PMC) securing American facilities and officials in Iraq.

JP, 42, was one of the 25,000 armed personnel in Iraq working for PMCs in a $100 billion industry spawned by the privatization of war jobs normally performed by national military forces. They are also referred to as “mercenaries.”