(This is Malaya’s report on the resignation of Col. Orlando de Leon as Marines chief of staff)
by Victor Reyes
THE No. 3 man in the Philippine Marine Corps resigned from his post last week due to the politicization of the Armed Forces, among a number of issues.
But the Marine leadership said Col. Orlando de Leon, Marines chief of staff, was relieved because he was being groomed to become the chief of staff of the Naval Education and Training Command in Zambales.
De Leon, in a letter to Marines commandant Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga, said the time-tested military values and virtues of courage, integrity and loyalty, which he said were demonstrated by great military leaders, “no longer exist in the vocabulary of many officials in this armed organization.”
“It is with deep regret that I have to tender a resignation rather than to sign a Relinquishment Order as Chief of Staff, Philippine Marine Corps, effective this date,” De Leon, a member of PMA Class 1982, said in his letter dated June 15.
The Marine Corps’ No. 3 man is now Lt. Col. Armando Bañez, who took over on the same day as De Leon’s resignation in an acting capacity. The No. 2 man is Brig. Gen. Romeo Abaya, Marines vice commander.
Marines spokesman Maj. Ariel Caculitan said: “His relief cannot be questioned. That is the prerogative of the commander … He was relieved because that is part of the cycle of officers. It (relief) is not a big deal because that is the prerogative of the commander. In the military, no one is indispensable.”
Copies of De Leon’s letter were distributed at the Monday launch of the second impeachment drive against President Arroyo held at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City. The impeachment complaint is expected to be filed next week.
“I deemed it more befitting to resign in a situation when truth is buried under a blurred and vague interpretation of the significant events in the history of our beloved Marine Corps,” De Leon said.
He said he was honored to have served under Allaga, who took over the top Marine post last February.
Allaga took over from Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, whose relief by Vice Adm. Mateo Mayuga, Navy chief, caused a standoff at the Marines headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Makati.
Miranda was among several high-ranking officers relieved after an alleged failed attempt by military officers to overthrow the Arroyo administration on Feb. 24. The Marines leadership said Miranda had requested to be relieved.
Miranda and De Leon are now on floating status.
Another Marines officer, bemedalled Col. Ariel Querubin, was also relieved on Feb. 28 in connection with the alleged overthrow attempt. Querubin led Marines in protesting the relief of Miranda, causing the standoff at the Marines headquarters on Feb. 26. Sources said De Leon was among those who voted against Allaga’s assumption as commandant during a meeting of senior officers.
‘GOALS CLOUDED’
De Leon, in the letter, thanked Allaga “for all the trust and confidence you bestowed upon me.”
“But I know that the political pressure has now become more unbearable for the Corps and your leadership. Every Marine knows that we always have to prioritize the Corps’ interest and welfare above our own – above mine,” he said.
“Technicalities and politics dominate and cloud the real goals, objectives and missions of the AFP. Hearsays and unfounded allegations now dominate over the established processes of the moral laws,” he added.
De Leon said “survival and threats reign over principles and honor of many officers.”
Without naming names, he said these officers have opted to “suppress the truth just to push some personal agenda.”
“The phrase ‘an officer and a gentleman’ has lost its true meaning in the hearts and minds of many cavaliers. Survival, according to the most respected Officer-In-Command, is now the rule that governs the behavior of almost everybody in the AFP. I’m sorry, Sir, but please don’t count me in,” he said.
The Navy flag-officer-in-command, Vice Adm. Mateo Mayuga, headed a fact-finding board that investigated the four generals who were implicated in cheating in the May 2004 national elections. The board cleared the “Hello Garci” general of charges of rigging the results of the 2004 elections in favor of President Arroyo.
The cheating allegations, sparked by the “Hello Garci” wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and former Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, triggered calls for Arroyo’s resignation.
“Similar plague shall always befall this country if many will continue to ignore God’s will which is a clear manifestation of lack of faith. In resigning this post, I am now entrusting the fate of this humble servant in the hands of the Almighty. Thank you, Sir, and God bless the Philippine Marine Corps!” De Leon said.
Excerpts of De Leon’s letter were posted at the blog of Malaya columnist Ellen Tordesillas (www.ellentordesillas.com). The blog said the letter was also read by De Leon during the turnover ceremony on June 15.
SCHOOLING
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense, said he was aware of De Leon’s plight.
Biazon, a retired general, also served as Marine commandant and rose to become AFP chief.
Biazon said De Leon was due for schooling in Virginia but it was called off by higher authorities due to an ongoing investigation into the alleged February coup and into the standoff at the Marine headquarters.
Caculitan said as far as he knows, De Leon is not subject of any investigation.
He reiterated the Marines’ pledge of loyalty to the chain of command, noting no major incident involving the Marines has occurred in recent years. He said the Feb. 26 standoff “was an internal problem resolved by the Marines.”
“There was no move to against the government at that time,” he said.
Col. Tristan Kison, chief of the AFP public information office, said the military leadership was not aware of De Leon’s resignation. If it is true, he said, the AFP is confident it would not snowball into a destabilization move.
“I only heard it from the media. We are still finding out. We have no information on that…We have not received any report about any destabilization move against the present government,” he said.
Asked if the military leadership still trusts the Marines, Kison said: “Yes, we always maintain that esprit de corps and unity in the Armed Forces. If you don’t trust your own troops, then we cannot claim that there is unity in the organization. So we have to trust our troops and we are calling on every member of the Armed Forces to join and follow the chain of command.”
It’s no wonder the armed forces can not defeat or resolved any single mission before them, they can’t even get along together. I have never seen an armed forces so fragmented, so politicized, that you could no longer distinguised which is which. Sometimes you think the politicians act as the armed forces, sometimes it’s the other way around. They been fighting the insurgency for the last 30 years plus, nil. The Seccessionist Rebellion in the south, nil. Send in the Boy Scouts, maybe they could make a deal.
In contrast, I have yet to hear such crisis in our Canadian Forces and for crying out loud, they are all over the World, keeping the Peace for the U.N. Fighting in the far away Afghanistan for the NATO and the U.N. Sanctioned war.
And by the way, our armed forces is under one Command. only known as Canadian Forces. No Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine. All these forces is under one command and can only be distinguised by their insignias and shades of their uniform. That is “esprit de corp” and unity rolled into one FYI Col. Kison.
Ellen said in the previous post, “Another military source said the AFP is preparing to court martial officers in the marines and De Leon is included among them. They will be charged with conspiracy to commit rebellion.
“This is a violation of their agreement that ended the Feb. 26 standoff that no charges would be filed against them.”
Didn’t these officers learn from the Oakwood mutiny? Didn’t Gloria Arroyo do the same to the Magdalo soldiers? Officials Arroyo sent to talk with Trillanes and company (and this was confirmed by Gen. Cimatu on TV) promised that only the leaders would be charged in the military court. Not in the civilian court.
But what happened? Everybody down to the enlisted men were charged in court. Gusto nila sirain sina Trillanes sa mga sundalo. They also filed charges in the civilian court.
But then, maybe even if they didn’t believe Arroyo and her generals would not fulfill their end of the agreement, they had no choice at that time.
Okay lang. I believe Gloria and her generals will get their due punishment later.
Meanwhile, my message to our gallant and principled officers: hold on. we support you. we are praying for you.
Th
Let’s call on all those we know to join the cordon to protect this gallant marine officer who got the balls to say “No!” to a criminal!
When they arrest him, we know for a fact that the time has come for more drastic action and solution to this problem called “Bansot”!
maayos lang ‘tong bansot na ‘to, karapat-dapat lamang ng ibalik ang ma-prinsipyong mga opisyal na gaya nina Colonel De Leon na nasusuka sa sistema ng gobyernong ito.
Yes, only men with principles should be in the Philippine military, but I wish when they are able to remove Bansot and her minions, the Senators, et al with better vision would sit down to correct the Philippine justice and police systems.
Over in Japan, our military does not meddle in civilian affairs, and all responsibilities and efforts to maintain peace and order is left all to the police and the Ministry of Justice.
The military here does not do any arrest of civilian citizens regardless of which political ideology they adhere to. Their responsibility is make sure that the country is protected from invasion and attacks from the outside by some foreign enemies. Our soldiers are not told to kill fellow Japanese and/or even foreign residents.
The police should not be manned by soldiers, nor headed by some military appointees. It should be under a civilian commission to keep the officers there and their activities in order and civilian oriented.
They should also impose a strong rule to policemen to stick to their wives regardless of whether they are Christians or Moslems to stop their extra-curricular activities leading to graft and corruption.
Anyway, I wish it would be different when the naaagnas na Bansot is kicked out of the palace by the murky river, which also needs some cleaning up, together with her minions!
PATALSIKIN NA,NOW NA! NO TO CHACHA! NO TO BANSOT’S ENCHANTED KINGSDOM WHERE EVERYONE BECOMES AN ASS!
To make the police system work there, head of the police should never be a political appointee but one from the ranks who get to the police force by a national board exam,and trained in some police academy not the Philippine Military Academy!
What they need to do is teach the policemen not really the use of arms to kill people, but how to implement the law to protect civilians and the society they are duty bound to keep peaceful and orderly. In the Philippines now, we see the death of the rule of law and the abuses committed by the criminally inclined and her minions with even the Constitution thrown in the trash bin to rot. Palpak talaga!
Matanong nga sino bang gago ang nagpauso na ang police head ay ina-appoint ng nasa Malacanang. Papaano huhulihin ni Lomibao si Bansot e siya ang pumili dito para hindi siya hulihin at hindi rin sila mawala sa puwesto. Balita ko kamag-anak pa si Lomibao ni Bansot at pareho silang kapampangan!
If this is not idiocy, what is? Iyan ba ang matalino? Ang yabang naman,hindi pa amining mga bobo! Kasi karamihan sa mga matatalino, wala na sa Pilipinas. Lumayas na! Hindi pala, pinalayas na!
The police and military has become personal bodyguards of the squatter in the palace. The leprechaun in the palace has successfully bastardized the institutions of government. This is the reason why the people had lost trust in any of the different institutions. She had managed to futher strengthen the “Bata-Bata” system in the military by dangling carrots to “ambitious” officers. The few good men are being persecuted and or left on floating status. She had managed to give new interpretation to the “Chain of Command”. To think that she had continously appealed to her critics not to politicize the men in uniform.
Gen. Miranda ang Col. Querubin were too “HOT” to be touched by the military hierarchy. For the citizenry, it seems that the atmosphere in the marine corps has been back to normal until the pronouncement of Col. de Leon. It is his resignation against the administration’s relief announcement.
Here we go again – which is which? Ano nga ba, Kuya? Sino ba talaga sa inyo ang magsasabi ng totoo?
Emilio,
Gen. Miranda is currently in floating status while Col. Querubin is under house arrest. Col. de Leon’s impending relief was a result of the Feb. 25 Marine Stand-off.
Schumey,
I am in the process of building a site for the group I organized for Filipino women in Japan, and tried to create a blog but I thought I’d just participate in this kind of egroup and share information to help establish facts to hopefully bring back sanity and propriety over there.
I used to maintain one as a matter of fact but it was hacked by you know who, and I decided to have it removed from the web. I actually did it as an experiment in web building that I wanted to get into as a side job.
Anyway, I’ll visit your blogsite as well. Thanks for the invitation.
Senga is bowing out next month. Will Esperon be the next chief of staff?
Maybe this could be another reason why Arroyo is purging the military with principled officers because to be upright these days means you are a threat to the corrupt military organization.
kung may ganitong mga Military Officers na disgruntled sa pamunuan ng ating sandatahang lakas, lalong lalo na sa pamunuan ni Bansot… isa lang ibig sabihin nito, na tunay na ngang walang kwenta itong si Empyerno Makapal Mukha Mo.
Ang kapal talaga ng mukha ng mga mga kuhol dyan sa gobyerno ni Arroyo Kapal Muks, mas lalong ang kapal ng mukha nitong si presidenteng kuhol na halos kumkapit ng husto sa kanyang kapangyarihan.
mga lintian kamo dyan… kilatan gani kamo para mabal-an ninyo ang inyo mga ginahimu!!!! how si-Raul-ong Gonzalez, pahuway ka na manoy… daw sa gago ka ya imo ya ah!
O dahan-dahan ang pagmumura at sasabihin na naman ng mga Internet Brigade ni Bansot na mali kayo na galit na galit sa kaniya. Walang puedeng magmura, maglait sa mahirap, etc. kundi si Bansot lang. Wala kayong karapatan na murahin siya dahil siya ay malapit nang maging reyna. Iyan ang pagako niya na gawing Enchanted Kingdom ang Pilipinas sa loob ng dalawang taon (nga ba?) at siya ang Reyna Engkangtada!
Baliw talaga! Now concentrate at isipin kung papaano matatanggal ang Bansot para maayos na ang militar dahil sa ayos ng sandatahang pilipino, pag pumasok ang mga North Koreans, talo na agad!!! Kung si Ka Roger nga hindi nila makaya, North Koreans pa na may missile na ipinapanakot sa mga kano?!
Ito talagang si Pandak pag umarte, sobra! Bakit niya ipinapakita pa ang linya ng mga baril na ibinigay daw sa mga sundalo. Pati uniporme ipinagyayabang matapos na ibunyag nina Trillanes na puro butas ang botang ginagamit nila sa pakikibaka sa mga rebelde sa Mindanao. O naging dakila ba ang mga sundalong pinoy sa ginagawa niya? Nabababoy nga ang mga matitinong kawal ng bayan sa mga ginagawa niyang pagsusuhol doon sa mga sipsip na kinukumbida niya sa Malacanang para pakainin at suhulan!
Dito hindi ipinapaalam ng Sandatahang Hapon kung ilan na ang mga bomba, baril, etc. nila kasi magagalit ang mga taumbayan pag nalaman nilalabag nila ang Constitution ng Japan na bawal na mag-rearm ang bansang Hapon maliban na lang kung may lulusob sa Japan. Ang ang mga ipinapakita minsan na mga baril ay iyong mga nahuhuli sa smugglers, pero ang mga iyon ay hindi inaangking ng pamahalaan para ipagamit sa mga pulis or sundalong hapon. Kinukumpiska, tapos itinatapon kapag natapos nang gamiting ebidensiya sa paghuhusga ng kaso sa hukuman. Sa Pilipinas, baril ng AFP nakakarating sa mga Yakuza dito. Papaanong nangyayari iyon? Sino ang nagbebenta ng baril sa mga putol dito?
BTW, anyone here na nakakaalam ng gawaan ng baril sa Cebu?