Marching orders
Swearing in her new defense secretary, President Arroyo’s marching orders, according to reports, was for Gilbert Teodoro to pursue military reforms. The success of that effort can only be as good as the commitment to defense reforms of the President herself. Her record in this department is spotty at best.Teodoro is the President’s fifth defense chief in six years, and the seventh if two men who served as acting defense secretaries are counted. Orlando Mercado, a holdover from the Estrada administration, resigned after President Arroyo picked a retired Armed Forces chief implicated in corruption scandals as her national secretary adviser. Angelo Reyes, whose latest government recycling is as secretary of energy, was replaced shortly after junior officers staged the Oakwood mutiny in July 2003 to denounce corruption and other anomalies in the military.
The Philippine Defense Reform program took off in 2004 when Avelino Cruz assumed the helm of the defense department. Probably because he was at the time the most trusted legal adviser of the President, Cruz managed to last two years, reducing opportunities for graft in the military, initiating measures to insulate the Armed Forces from politics, and paving the way for the indictment of military generals for large-scale corruption. That sort of good work is not appreciated in this administration; Cruz eventually quit over policy differences with the President.
He was replaced with former national police chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., who openly lobbied for the job. The President dismissed recommendations from two fact-finding commissions that drew up military reforms to stop appointing retired Armed Forces and police generals to the post of defense chief. Ebdane, who was linked to the disappearance of former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano at the height of the “Hello, Garci” scandal, presided over the defense department during the election period before being shuffled back to the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Now Teodoro, a former congressman, has taken over the defense portfolio. His youth, education and civilian background have raised hopes that he can continue the reforms initiated by Cruz. As the case of Cruz showed, however, the success of those reforms depends a great deal on the commander-in-chief. For reforms to succeed and take root, they must have the support of the political leadership.
