Esperon, Yano tell civil society to spare AFP from People Power calls

By Ronron
February 22, 2008

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. and Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano on Friday discouraged the civil society from inviting the military in revived People Power attempts to unseat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Interviewed at the start of the commemoration of the 1986 People Power Revolution in Fort Bonifacio, both Esperon and Yano said the essence of the AFP now is to preserve the democracy after it was restored 22 years ago by toppling the dictatorial rule of then President Ferdinand Marcos.

"For us, the spirit of EDSA must live on. It means that when we gained our democracy in 1986, we were supposed to make the democratic institutions stronger for us, for a democratic way of life," Esperon said.

The mass actions on EDSA that ousted Marcos started on February 22, 1986 and culminated three days later, with Marcos and his family leaving Malacanang and the country, after the military, led by then Gen. Fidel Ramos and then Defense chief Juan Ponce-Enrile, abandoned him.

Esperon said the role of the military now or 22 years later is to make sure that the regained "democratic space" is protected and the "democratic institutions" safeguarded.

"Do not ask us to intervene. The more that the military intervenes, the more that these democratic institutions become weak," he said.

"This is our challenge to the civil society - make People Power work, make People Power strengthen the democratic institutions… We believe that it should be civil society and the democratic processes themselves that should solve problems," he added.

Arroyo is facing renewed calls for her ouster after a key witness to the alleged irregularity in the now cancelled $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project linked her husband and former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos to it.

Abalos and Malacanang have denied the allegation.

Various groups said the NBN controversy is just among the unresolved anomalies under the Arroyo government that include the alleged 2004 electoral fraud sparked by the release of the infamous "Hello Garci" tapes, the fertilizer fund scam, and alleged extrajudicial killings of political activists.

Esperon said instead of asking for the military's intervention, the public should "let all these hearings proceed," and "trust the courts, the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice."

"There should be no shortcut, no extra-Constitutional means," added Yano.

"It is improper for some groups to call for the military to intervene. Every time, there will be a vicious cycle. We can't interfere every time there is a political problem," he said.

Esperon and Yano joined Arroyo in a wreath-laying ceremony yesterday morning at the Libingan ng mga Bayani to mark the start of the government's commemoration of the 1986 EDSA Revolution./DMS