Last of a three-part series on the state of the Philippine military by Yvonne Chua and Luz Rimban for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Filipino peacekeepers in Haiti know the perils of their mission all too well.
On Dec. 21, four of them came under fire from suspected gang members as they were escorting an official of the United Nations Stabilization Mission through the violent neighborhood of Cite Soleil…
If you take a close look of how the AFP is conducting its accounting methodology, you can not be sure if Enron got their system from AFP or was it the other way around. At least the Enron guys got caught and convicted while the AFP, other than the one guy caught by the U.S. customs are having their merry way.
And to send your country’s cream for a dangerous job of peacekeeping for peanuts and further cut it, and considering that the allowances are re-imbursed by th UN, then what can it tell you about the treatment of the lower echelon of the military? It is a shame, that the soldiers who deserve the recognition for taking the risk of representing the country’s wearing proudly the Blue Helmets are treated shabbily while the Generals who are suspected of stealing millions of funds are rewarded of plum Government Appointments.
They’re being swindled, but why are they not doing anything about it? I’m looking forward to the day when they will all pull their pants up! What they have there now under a boggy president are “sundalong kanin, labas ang mga tumbong!” Pathetic! Pwe!
Come to think of it, Bush has been ordering the bombings of countries he suspect of having Al Qaeda cells as in what to be friendly Somalia.
Blame the Great Switik if one of these days Bush orders the bombing of Mindanao for her misinformation about Mindanao being saturated by Al Qaeda cells!
PATALSIKIN NA, NOW NA!
AFP reduced the Pinoy peacekeepers allowance of $1,000 by 40%. Why still send peacekeepers overseas to participate in this UN endeavor? Ibulsa na lang nila lahat at huwag ng pahirapan ang mga sundalong ito. Bakit naman kasi hindi tuluyang umalma ang mga ito e!
Wait folks! Paki-basa lang kung hindi pa ninyo nabasa.
The revolution will not be televised, but blogged
By Joey Alarilla, INQUIRER.net
FILIPINOS are taking over the blogosphere.
Some of the very people who are making this happen might feel it’s sensationalistic to say our bloggers are “taking over.
The blog post had cited a number of Filipino bloggers who are taking over the reins of international blogs.
Read the rest of the story at the Inquirer.
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Hindi kumikibo ang mga kawawang sundalo kasi kahit papaano kailangan nila ng pera para sa kanilang mga pamilya. Assuming the $1,000 pay is reduced by half, malaki pa rin sa kanila ang $500 na katumbas na P25,000 pesos. Paano nila kikitain ito sa Pilipinas. I’m not saying they should keep mum and not complain. But I think they rather be quiet and get paid little than be sent home and not get paid. Kapit sa patalim kung minsan. We really can’t blame them.
Kaya naman itong mga ulol na heneral ni gloria na tulad ni Eggsperon, handang mamatay alang-alang sa kanilang glorya, ang makapagkamal ng limpak-limpak na salapi sa pamamagitan ng lahat ng klase ng pangungurakot. Reading such articles makes our blood boils in anger, how much more to those people involved, the used and abused men and women of the AFP.
kawawang mga kawal. biktima ng walang katapusang katiwaliang pinalaganap ng huwad at bulok na pamunuan. buhay nila ang nakataya sa kapahamakan samantalang nagpapasarap at nagkakamot lamang ng bayag ang mga supot na heneral!
Yuko,
Re: “They’re being swindled, but why are they not doing anything about it?”
The guys have a couple of options but which are not at all palatable:
1) if they have sufficient proof that there’s an irregularity, they may file appropriate complaint with the UN Peacekeeping Forces or bring up formal charges against their military superior or superiors in Pinas so that an inquiry may be made: silence in the ranks will not get them anywhere
2) go on mass leave or resign
3) go back to Pinas en masse and PROTEST publicly
But who will listen to them? Who will take their fight to the august halls of congress and the dirty halls of the justice department?
Esperon, their chief (thief) of staff who by the very nature of his position should have the moral and legal obligation to look after the welfare of the men and women in uniform, whoever or wherever they may be? Not on their lives!
These men have nobody to turn to for justice, not in Pinas. Media can bring their plight to public knowledge – their story make a good copy but at the end of the day, it’s the military leadership who’s has got to fight for them.
And even for the sake of argument, these men have the guts to protest publicly but peaceably, who exactly in the AFP leadership has the balls enough to say they are right? Not Tolentino, not Joey Reyes, not anybody in the current leadership and certainly not the human traficker in Malacanang.
Our government and military EXPORT our soldiers to do a job for others yet they not only refuse to accord them the respect due them as fighting men, they also STEAL from them and refuse to accord them the basic tenet of appropriate pay for honest labour: for every job, there must be a corresponding honest pay!
If that continues to be the case, our soldiers might as well serve in the mercenary efforts of Dyncorp – at least they will get good pay. There is no guarantee that they will come out alive at the end of a fighting day or that they will physically come home intact but the pay will be honest enough to keep their family alive!
Re: ““sundalong kanin, labas ang mga tumbong!” Pathetic! Pwe!”
Realistically, the AFP leadership should stand up and fight for their men and women in service, nobody else can realistically fight for the uniformed men and women except their own superiors.
The alternative is for these men to achieve what they believe is right is to commit either a mutiny or a coup d’état but that is NOT AN OPTION.
I accuse General Esperon of military violations against the men and women of the Armed Forces of the Philippines – his underlings should place him under arrest and charge him summarily in a military court for violations of ALL THE PROVISIONS in the Articles of War.
When will the AFP ever have a General Sir Richard Dannatt?
http://www.hillblogger.blogspot.com/2006/10/general-sir-richard-dannatt-is-right_16.html
Anna,
As the old adage goes, “It takes two to tango.” OK, these soldiers are being cheated of their pay, but why are they not doing the right thing? Why are they not binding together and report them to the international body that pays them? Ang hirap kasi sa kanila, ayaw nilang magutom!
Yuko,
To be fair, hard for anyone, even for hardened soldiers to accept gutom for themselves and most of all for their families.
Having said that, I’ve met and seen families of soldiers in gutom mode, they accept it as their sort, not being able to have food on the table – agree, this state of things is completely unfair and thoroughly unjustified.
Pinag-uusapan po natin dito na kawawa ang mga sundalo pero hindi lang naman sila ang kawawa sa atin, marami pa. The underpaid and overworked government workers, OFWs, farmers, fishermen, construction workers, even the poorly paid and poorly equipped policemen. Kung tutuusin, mabuti pa itong mga sundalong ipinadala sa ibang bansa may tinatanggap na dollars kahit binawasan.
Point, Anna, is that the Great Switik has spoiled the members of the military with her bribes. “You be good to me, I take care of your needs” kind of thing. But come wartime, these spoiled brats would not even know how to light a fire ala-Boy or Girl Scouts.
God has provided ways for men to survive. I take comfort in fact in this: “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?”(Luke 12:24) In short, one does not have to be hungry even in war. It is just a matter of will and faith in God and in oneself!
Yuko,
I remember a line of a witty song “may bulsa walang pera, may baril walang bala”. Hahahah! Oh kawawang cowboy pala!
Maganda iyon Ate Chi. Ako naman may pera pero walang ikalalagyan. Sino ba ang tawag sa iyo ngayon na Manay Chi? Dapat Monay na lang. Gusto ni Eddie Garcia niyan.
Chi,
Kasi ang baril naman nila tira-tira lang. Iyong magaganda, ibinebenta pa sa mga yakuza! Ngek!
PATALSIKIN NA, NOW NA!
Bakit niyo binibili? Sabihin mo sa mga kababayan mong Yakuza huwag bumili. Hindi mo ba alam ang may kasalanan hindi lang iyong nagbebenta pati na ang bumibili? Kapag walang bibili walang magbebenta.
artsee,
maikukwento mo na dito kung papaano pinag-interesan na pag parte-partihin ang Tsina noon ng mga European powers, Rusya at North America?
Kabayang Nelbar, may I answer your above question? I think you’re referring to “Opium War”. That war resulted in many unequal treaties for China among which were Hongkong and Macao territories.
Ellen,
Yung “RP peacekeepers dealt ‘unkindest cut of all’” ay SPECIAL REPORT (Last of three parts) ng Philippine Daily Inquirer , January 10,2007 Wednesday.
Dito sa blog mo ay pang third part na.
Pwede bang mai-post mo dito ang naunang dalawang part at maisama ko sa archives ko – for future reference.
Salamat na marami.