LETTER TO THE EDITOR A BAD case in Carranglan This is in response to yesterdays PDI editorial (August 23, 2014) entitled: AFP, Janus-faced? Janus---a two-faced Roman god of beginnings and transitions, who presided over war and peace, can somewhat describe the AFPs institutional character. Remembering an interview with Correspondent Ed Lingao on ABC 5s State of War (A State of the Nation Special documentary), Gen. Jovito Palparan described the military as the coercive power of the state. He ended it with ...kung loko-loko ka, matakot ka sa amin! Books, military manuals, and the Philippine Constitution can offer more decent and legal definitions. But in practice, historical records and in the collective memory of the Filipino people, especially in the countryside, know otherwise. Every soldiers mentality is distorted to obey MILITARY DISCIPLINE since the day they lined up for training. They were forced to do ridiculous, unreasonable, and inhuman things without question at every shout of their commanding officers. I also endured the same physical punishments, public humiliation, and mental stress during my Citizens Army Training (CAT) in high school, and as a Reserved Officers Training Course (ROTC) cadet in college to be disciplined. We were trained and indoctrinated to become robots, as blind followers of the AFPs chain of the command in the service of our country. A lot of uploaded documentaries can be found on YouTube featuring the harsh training methods, feudal culture and traditions propagated within those regular enlistment camps up to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). No wonder why they see people, not only to those who they judge as state enemies, as mere objects. Just like what they did to youth activists Guiller Cadano and Gerald Salonga last August 9 here in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija. They were not given due process and outrightly denied their civil rights. They were treated as pigs ready to be butchered---heavy shoes pinned their faces to the ground at gunpoint, hogtied, blindfolded and dragged into their unmarked vehicles. Based on the conversations and landmarks they observed, they were brought into the headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Battalion Philippine Army in Barangay Sto.Niño III, San Jose City for an intense sleepless interrogation. They disappeared for almost 16 hours before their families and friends found them in Cabanatuan City under CIDG-NE custody the following day. These actions were the cold-blooded legacy of Gen. Palparan and his commander-in-chief Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during their term. UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston made a comprehensive report of human rights abuses during the implementation of the Philippine governments Internal Security Operational Plan (Oplan) Bantay Laya I&II. Oplan Bayanihan has no essential difference, the Aquino administration still uses the same gauge of knowing the enemy. They just modified it with a name. Thats why fascist terror and impunity continue to persist. As a popular joke goes, politicians and diapers have one thing in common--- They have to be changed for the same reason. But in our case, we dont need diapers anymore. We simply need to learn and grow.... (Divine Cruz, 28, is a member of Save Carranglan Movement.)
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 10:23:14 +0000
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