Military won’t say sorry for its Martial Law atrocities – Defense chief

By Ronron
September 21, 2007

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. does not see the need for the military to apologize for its atrocities during the implementation of the Martial Law since 1972 until 1981.

During the forum with the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) on Thursday night, the eve of the 35th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law by former President Ferdinand Marcos, Teodoro said the “atrocities” committed then were not by “institutions,” rather, “by men.”

“There is nobody countenancing atrocities within and amongst the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Philippines so definitely, the institution should not apologize for the wrongdoings, if ever, of any of its members,” Teodoro said.

Under the Martial Law rule, Marcos utilized the military in curtailing the basic rights like freedom of speech of the people, especially those who are criticizing government and the First Family. It was during said period that many human rights violations were allegedly committed by security forces.

Asked how could the military get rid of the Martial Law stigma attached to it, Teodoro said: “There’s no quick answer to that. The best thing that can happen is the behavior of the military, given a fixed period of time.”

Another is the attitude of the military leadership now towards alleged violations of human rights. “The best way to deal with the problem, number one, is to really perhaps provide an example, based on competent evidence, that we do not tolerate it. As (Armed Forces chief of staff) Gen. (Hermogenes) Esperon, Jr. said, there are some cases pending which I won’t comment on.”

According to Esperon, since the activation last June of five General Courts Martial (GCM) - two for the Army, one for the General Headquarters, one for the Navy and one for the Air Force - to deal with alleged human rights violations of soldiers, three cases are now at the pre-trial investigation stage.

The three cases involve 13 soldier-suspects tagged behind the murder of four people, Esperon said.

“While we want to be quick on this, due diligence and the rules of the procedures must be observed. We do not want to pin down anybody based on suspicions. We want to be very thorough about it. But I can tell you that the GCM will be working on this,” Esperon said in the same MOPC forum.

Aside from this, a better relationship of the military with the community through its good behavior while doing their job, and their accomplishments, basically, will also be good eventually for the military’s image with the public, Teodoro said.

“It will take time and only a confluence of several factors, particularly our behavior, which has been stated in Basilan and Sulu, has been no less than commendable, our relationship-building with the community, and our professionalism from the junior officers up will perhaps improve the image of the Armed Forces,” he said.

Teodoro said he is of the opinion that Martial Law is already over when the Marcoses were ousted in February 1986, through what is now called as People Power I Revolution./DMS