Army officer tells men not to be swayed by current development at Senate

By Ronron
February 11, 2008

An Army officer on Monday urged members of the Philippine Army not to be affected by the ongoing hearings at the Senate over the anomalous National Broadband Network (NBN) project.

Brig. Gen. Ricardo Morales, commander of the Philippine Army’s Headquarters and Headquarters Support Group, said in a speech at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City before Army personnel and civilian employees that they should “remain steadfast and loyal to the chain of command, and to the commander-in-chief,” President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Our personal opinions are personal and private. As we listen and have access to what is happening in the political scene, we will keep our opinions to ourselves,” Morales said.

Morales’ reminder came three days after the Senate resumed its probe on the aborted NBN project with the arrival in the country of whistleblower Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada, Jr., and hours before another hearing was conducted over Lozada’s alleged abduction by government agents.

Lozada had alleged that former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos sought for a $130 million kickback from the NBN project, and implied that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo was aware of the irregularity.

Morales said that should there be text messages that reach Army personnel and employees for them to “act one way or another,” they should “not pass on this text message or rumor.”

“Do not spread rumors. Do not pass on rumors. You will pass on this message or rumor only to your intelligence officer. Remember that! We will not participate in any political activity,” Morales said.

“As members of the Philippine Army, our purpose remains clear. Our role remains clear. We will remain loyal and faithful to the chain of command and to the commander-in-chief… Ours is a purely volunteer Army. No one in this Army is indispensable,” he went on.

He said that if any Army personnel or employee is not happy anymore with the organization, then they should just leave the service.

In an interview at Camp Aguinaldo, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said that so far, they have not monitored any “recruitment” activities within the organization to join destabilization efforts against the Arroyo government following Lozada’s exposes.

“The members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines will focus on their job. They wouldn’t bother themselves in things, which would be political in nature. So, from a distance, the individual soldier may be will be keeping watch, watching the developments. But as an organization, we will remain to be solid,” Bacarro told reporters./DMS