Before the Filipino people, the raison d’etre for its existence, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is currently in a state of disgrace. This alienation is the price soldiers pay for the Original Sin committed by their senior officers, Esperon and his rogue accomplices, who allowed themselves to be “used” and in the process unconscionably got the institution involved in the massive electoral fraud in 2004.
Like Adam and Eve who were unable to resist the crafty snake’s temptation and ate from the Tree of Knowledge, Esperon and his self-aggrandizement group succumbed to the offers of immoral political leaders and helped themselves to the “tree of Garci.” But unlike the Garden of Eden’s original sin, Esperon’s partakes of a mortal character, not merely venial. It was a grievous criminal offense when he and his gang knowingly and willfully violated our election laws and thwarted the people’s sovereign political mandate. And being mortal, such stain cannot be cleansed by Baptismal waters alone. The sin can only be forgiven and the soldier reconciled with his people through a sincere Act of Contrition and the corresponding Acts of Penance.
To be redeemed from its complete separation from the Filipino people, for a start, the military needs to be honest with itself and be truthful to the country it has sworn to serve. The AFP needs to come out of it with a clean breast by admitting the fault, dealing with it squarely and helping initiate moves that would task those responsible to account for their illegal acts. Unfortunately, it is like wishing for the moon at this time; even a watered down version of the Mayuga Report has yet to be made public.
Meantime, a chasm of sinfulness and damnation continue to define the military’s relationship with the Filipino people and its estranged sons and daughters continue to suffer from the stigma of Esperon’s shameless act. Innocent soldiers continue to suffer and pay for the original crime. Some who stood up to be counted for the side of truth and justice ended up in detention and continue to languish in their cells to this day. Add to this the cases of involuntary disappearances, tortures, abuses, etc and you multiply and magnify the gulf between soldiers and civilians.
From accounts in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden and condemned to perpetual harsh existence where they can only “eat bread from the sweat of their faces.” The serpent’s punishment, “on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life.” No such treatment for Esperon, his rotten crew and the big Anaconda, no matter how well they deserve it. The crooks in uniform were, to a man, amply rewarded for their “invaluable services” with promotions, incentives (including financial) and other perks. They’ve got it made! Their brows need no longer sweat. They were banished to paradise (juicy positions) after retirement. The political serpent is not crawling on its belly. It continues to lord it over the garden and abuse its hapless and downtrodden residents.
Only when the men in uniform and the Filipino people unite and act as one can the Biblical story rooted in crime and punishment come to full realization.
Unleash the new breed of archangels!!! Let their swords pierce the hearts of the evil serpents and put an end to the cause of the peoples’ misery!!! It is time to redeem ourselves as a filipino nation!
Plenty of blame to go around and not only the AFP, but the whole doggone Philippines institutions, from barangays to stinking Malacanang, including the people in it are in a state of disgrace. Simply, because, they (people), for eight years turned their backs, watched and let illegitimate wh*re Gloria destroyed the Republic. Whose to blame, we can go on recite the entire list and names, but the total responsibility lies on the majority of the people, it’s their gov’t, the people’s gov’t. Surely majority of the people agreed that wh*re Gloria is numero corrupt and yet being totally ignored. Very disturbing behavior!
Again, direct the blame to every single citizen of the Philippines, they just don’t care. And, if they do love their country, they will do something about it to correct the injustices, but simply, they couldn’t careless. They would rather leave the country than tackle the problem from within. Ignorance is not an excuse!
Wh*re Gloria work for the people, stinking Malacanang is the house of the people, Philippines belong to the every single people of the Philippines and the people has no excuse to for not evicting the wh*re from thier house.
All good, just, true, fair and ideal at this time are “wishing for the moon”, but nice to know there are still a few good men and women (soldiers, private and ordinary people) out there caring and working hard not letting evil completely declares victory. Mabuhay kayong lahat!
Howdy Ellen!
What a powerful challenge by BGen Danilo Lim to crass Esperon et al.
It’s a call to arms.
I like it. Now, if only we have a few more senior elements in the AFP who would do the same, then the country would be moving towards some sort of healing process with its military. But as Lim himself admits, “it is like wishing for the moon at this time…”
I understand where BGen Lim is coming from — it’s when things get tough that the tough should get going but I don’t believe that our military leaders, particularly the more senior ones have that toughness of intellect and character to be able to break the silence barrier, respond to the Lim’s call to arms, unite and charge.
Not the officers of this generation. Maybe the next? But even that I doubt very much.
Only a thorough (and I mean thorough) cleansing of the dirt, the scum, the filth that permeated the AFP through decades of mismanagement and corruption could the AFP rise from its rotteness.
Hi there, adb!
longtime no read.
Good to know The General is trying the power of the Net to advance a Worthy Cause.
The more he writes, the more we know him (as if what he had done so far is not enough).
I second the motion on what MS said. It’s time to unleash…
Agreed as well on the citizens are partly to blame for this. Some pinoys prefer to just stay at the sidelines and letting others fight for them. Some pinoys are claiming na ayaw nila ng gulo that’s why they just tolerate whatever wrong they see. Some people are simply just selfish, no sense of nationalism and don’t care that this is for their children living in a better Philippines.
Most of the government leadership are so “garapal” that even a mass protest won’t grow conscience on them. What these people need is a can of woop-ass.
I can blame many other things, but, the problem is right in front of us. What are we gonna do about it? It’s time to bring the fight to them…
Aksyon na, soldiers of the Filipino people-the defender of the State and protector of the people. The longer Gloria Arroyo stays in power the more damage to country’s institutions. She controls the House of Represen-thieves, the Supreme Court, and the Office of Ombudsman, the Comelec and other institutions. She flooded them with taxpayers’’ money and favors. Puno na ang salop at dapat kalusin.
Esperon and his self-aggrandizement group succumbed to the offers of immoral political leaders and helped themselves to the “tree of Garci.” But unlike the Garden of Eden’s original sin, Esperon’s partakes of a mortal character, not merely venial.—Ellen
Of course! the fruit will not fall father from a tree.
Let us hear more from the incarcerated officers. General Lim, your voice will be heard more by the junior officers. Asspweron-the serpent still has his strings on some of the higher ranked officers!
Is is unfortunate that your comrades who chose the path of Satan are now lording over the AFP. It will take sometime for these officers to leave the service. We will not be surprised when most of them will be enjoying their ranches in Australia or a villa in the South of France or simply a palace in Alabang Hills. Some of them may be unfortunate like de la Paz who got caught with only a few millions. It is my wish that some of the countries like Switzerland who made their financial fortune in “keeping secret” their depositors will now start to cooperate in preventing the deposit of stolen or laundered money. They should follow the the Russians did to de la Paz!
The Mayuga report will probably find its way out when all the “election cheaters” already have retired, resigned like the Big Joke or flew away. Besides, all the records of the cheating would have been sanitized by shredders courtesy of the salted DA funds.
The election cheating of the 2004 and 2008 will just remain as part of our dark past. The truth will have been all buried by this administration who has perfected the art concealing the truth. Hide the witnessess or simply kill them or exile them some place, clean all the tracks for any incriminating evidences, pay the collaborators with hefty sum of money of course from the country’s treasury or simply promote them to a high paying job with lots of power are just a few of their tactics. What for did we get the one of the “most corrupt” country in Asia award?
May your upright comrades heed your call, General Lim!
Welcome back Anna! We missed you!
A Majorca Report instead was submitted. A staff at the other end of the garbled line said he didnt quite well understand it to be Mayuga. Guess who went to Majorca with Euros and pesetas.
The AFP not even under Marcos has been as politicized and polarized as it is today. Blame it on greed and lust for power of over-ambitious officers who allowed themselves to be bribed with promised promotions, money and power. They willingly committed themselves as instruments in putting a loser as the head of state by way of terrorizing and cheating. The few good and honest men among them just watched helplessly and when they decided to make their move to straighten things up, the ended in the slammer. A very sad state indeed. Honesty and goodness does pay.
We can’t foresee even in the very distant future that a reform in the AFP is forthcoming. It is certain as the sun rises tomorrow that the winnowing and cleansing of the AFP will never happen under Gloria, unless the few good men supported by the people move in and force the issue. And hopefully when that happens, the AFP will be able to erase the very very bad image and stigma left by the evil partnership of Gloria and Esperon
Mayuga Report, PSB? I won’t rely on it if I were you. Anyone the Dorobo herself assigns to investigate on her of course will not do anything that will prove her as a criminal. Of course, they are there to protect her. Hence, any report made by them appointees should be considered and marked as unreliable.
Filipinos should heed now the call for action even by the religious. It isn’t just time but it is overtime now to kick out the Dorobo from the palace by the murky river with her piggy husband and all.
To the soldiers in jail, may God hear your prayers!
While we’re all railing against esperon and his likes we could also safely assume that the AFP junior leadership has been compromised and already corrupted by the machinations of the gloria syndicate. It may not be gloria herself doing it, that is giving too much credit to her, but her henchmen lead by the ermita-esperon tandem. Even junior officer have already been bought off. So much public money and perks are at the call of the gloria syndicate. The AFP today is a very poor image of its former self, that I can say. The poor foot soldiers are just pawns, no fodder for the MILF and NPA. They are being killed by bullets and arms from the armories of the AFP sold by officers to the enemy. Yet they claim they have matured institutionally. Rather I think they should be institutionalized.
The burden of corruption falls hardest to our very poor. Misuse of public funds does the greatest harm to the money available for safe water, schools and healthcare. The risks to lives are real. Yet so far, government action to stop corruption has been lacking and ineffective.
We must Act. Since it is very difficult for us to impeach the President. Even the SC, the House and the Senate are all sold out. No one is representing us. The only way that we can have the majority is to decentralize and weaken the power of Congress. The only way we can impeach a president is to have majority on our side. In order for us to do that, is to remove corruption and impeach our own local representatives such as congressmen and governors but this could mean forming a State thru Federalism. I will impeach my own governor and congressman if i’m allowed. With the current constitution, the people cannot impeach any members of Congress. Congress is as corrupt as the executives. Both parties are conspiring against the welfare of our people.
Where is the morality of this country.
From asiandelight; Where is the morality of this country?
Lumipad at dumapo sa puno ng kalachuchi! At itoy nagsimulang matunaw mula ng mamulat lang ang mata pero nakatulog ang kaluluwa at lumiit ang mga utak. Buti kung may utak pa nga. Mukhang wala ng nga eh!
The Philippines is being raped by the Arroyo family and their accomplices. They have somehow managed to perfect the art of corruption, aware, that one scandal can be covered up by another scandal, with a few lull moments, since they are very much aware that the Filipino people have a short memory. And the fact that most Filipinos are “Walang Pakialam” as long they eat, no matter if they could have better food on the table. This Walang Pakialam attitude has led the people to take whatever is being fed to them.
Mrs Arroyo and her cohorts have aligned themselves and have taken full control of the people that matters most, to safeguard their Greedy and Bloody interests, at the expense of the majority of poor Filipinos. It is really pathetic, especially if you would scrutinize the testimony and expalantion of each personality who has been involved in the scandals. Garci, Abalos, Bolante, Razon, unfortunately even Gaite, among others. Including resource personalities.
In my opinion, the Filipinos have lost their respective DANGAL (s).
Will we ever recover from this mess and restore our Dangal? Time can only tell us that. I really hope and am Praying, that we are able to restore / keep whatever self respect we have left or have lost.
Dangal, naibenta na lahat ni Gloria! Na-total meltdown ng Pidalismo!
Hey Anna. You’re there pala. Welcome home, again.
I would like to see my fave Gen. Lim in the Senate…kahit presidente kung kailangan!
In order to start bringing back people’s trust in the military, kick Gloria Arroyo’s ass first!
Kaya saludo ako kay Gen. Lim, Trillanes and fellow Magdalo for trying so!
Free Trillanes and the few Magdalo still encarcerated!
Free the Tanay Boys!
Hi Sumpit, Parasabayan, Chi, folks — thanks for the welcome! Good to be back
Sayang, absent ka Anna at the time of the MOA-AD. Nabigyan mo sana kami ng perspective ng Malaysia tungkol doon.
Hi Tongue! Di pa naman tapos itong kalokohan ni Gloria eh…