Military troops in MM barangays to stay on election day

By Ronron
March 7, 2007

Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) deployed in slum areas and Moslem communities in Metro Manila will remain there even on election day, May 14, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

“No, they will not be pulled out,” AFP Public Information Officer Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said when asked by reporters in Camp Aguinaldo yesterday.

Bacarro said the civil military operatives may only leave their places of assignment for a few hours if they cast their votes.

But he assured that even if the 260 junior officers and enlisted personnel report on election day, they will not engage in electioneering or in partisan politics as feared by militant groups.

In a separate forum yesterday afternoon at EDSA Shangri-la in Mandaluyong City, Defense Undersecretary and spokesman Ernesto Carolina admitted that the deployment, which began in November of last year, had the prior knowledge of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“It is always from the President,” Carolina said when asked who ordered the deployment of soldiers in Metro Manila.

Arroyo was Defense Secretary from December 1, 2006 until January 31st of this year following the controversial resignation of Avelino Cruz, Jr. She eventually turned over the department to Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr.

Told that the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) might step in the controversy to investigate the alleged “urban militarization,” Bacarro said: “Well, that’s good so that we could prove that our soldiers in the barangays are not violating any human rights.”

Bacarro lamented that the issue is being blown out of proportion when it is only the military’s way of helping the local communities in the capital.

“We are not in any way influencing and controlling the day to day activities of the barangays. And as a matter of fact, they (barangay officials) are even happy about it. I don’t know why there is this effort to put a political color on a purely military activity,” Bacarro said.

He said even Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos said he is not interfering with the troops deployment, believing “it’s a purely military operation.”

Bacarro disclosed that some of those deployed are actually on training in preparation for their major assignments in the countryside.

But he admitted that this is the first time the young officers’ immersion training is being held in Metro Manila, unlike during his time when they are being deployed in the countryside.

AFP National Capital Region Command chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino had said over the weekend that the troops are being deployed in urban poor areas and Moslem communities in Caloocan City, Taguig City, Quezon City and Manila City.

Dolorfino said the deployment is part of the AFP’s anti-insurgency campaign, meant at addressing community problems that, if unaddressed, may be exploited later by militant groups and use to convince the people to hold mass demonstrations.

Gabriela and Anakpawis party-list groups alleged that some of the deployed troops have been intimidating some residents, and convincing them not to vote against Left-leaning party-list organizations./DMS