Esperon hints of Arroyo’s dissatisfaction of troops’ performance in Western Mindanao following the series of heavy casualties inflicted on military

By Ronron
August 13, 2007

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), is apparently dissatisfied with the performance of commanders in Western Mindanao with the heavy casualties inflicted by Moslem rebels on government troops there.

Asked yesterday at a news conference in Camp Aguinaldo if the special assignment of Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino to Zamboanga City to oversee operations in the south indicates Arroyo’s dissatisfaction with the performance of the troops there, Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. said: “I can take it in that light. I can also take it in the light that she is concerned about our troops.”

Asked of the same question but directed to him, Esperon said: “I have my way of telling them (commanders in Western Mindanao Command) if I’m satisfied or not but I won’t do it in public.”

Esperon admitted that there were lapses by Army troopers in Sulu, particularly those ambushed in the morning of August 9 in Indanan town.

“When you are ambushed, that in itself is a lapse… Those are tactical lapses at the level of company commanders or battalion commanders. That is why this is investigated to see who is responsible and who are supposed to be made accountable,” he said.

“We have taken corrective measures by reinforcing the security that we have along our military supply routes or our main supply lines so that we could in the future avoid or prevent these kinds of ambushes, ambuscades,” he added.

Esperon recounted that the 11-man team from the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion were aboard a truck on an administrative and logistical run when ambushed by suspected ASG rebels and renegade MNLF fighters. Nine soldiers died on the spot, and the remaining two others expired while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

The ambush came a day after Army troops clashed with Moslem rebels in Parang town where one soldier and four rebels were killed, and five other soldiers were wounded. It was also followed later in the day by an intense firefight in Maimbung town where 15 soldiers died and nine others were injured.

Esperon had earlier said that suffering casualties on the part of the government is expected already since that it part of their job.

He said yesterday that the public should take Arroyo’s order regarding Tolentino’s special task as something “for the good of the service, for the good of the organization.”/DMS