Soldiers are People Too

Soldiers are People Too
Joel Rocamora
Executive Director
Institute for Popular Democracy

They fuck up like you and me. They make grand plans and do not make preparations to match the grandeur. Believe it or not, they do not like violence. They care deeply about the organizations they are part of. They want to help build a better government for our country. But not if they have to destroy the armed forces in the process.

Before whatever it was that happened in the fourth week of February, many of us dreaded the thought of – god forbid – a coup de etat or some such military action. We objectified soldiers as violent, macho, high testosterone men who, if you give them half a chance will set up a military dictatorship. We worried about all the blood that soldiers would spill when they act on the basis of their politics.

What happened violates all the elements of our objectification. Best trained in the arts of war, best equipped among the units in the AFP, these people did not fire a single shot. They did not train their guns on anyone. They negotiated with their superior officers. They even voted, for gods sake. They did not kill anyone or take over military camps. They wanted to march with civilians to dramatize their sentiments, to say forcefully that they do not want to continue to obey this government.

We have to deconstruct how we think of what role the military should play in our politics because there is no way they will simply retreat into inactivity the way democratic theory and Western practice demands. If they will play a political role anyway whether we like it or not, would it not be better to relate to them the way we relate to other sectors of the population such as politicians, business people, church people?

Before everything else, soldiers are citizens. They do not lose their political rights because they put on a uniform. In textbook theory, Secretary of National Defense Nonong Cruz is right. Soldiers as soldiers should not participate in the political process other than to vote. But the theory assumes a mature democracy where soldiers are allowed to be professional, where politicians do not use soldiers for their partisan political goals.More than anything else what makes soldiers unhappy at this time is the way the Armed Forces was used by the administration to cheat in the 2004 elections. “All we want is clean elections.” the big, burly Marine officer said at the Sunday, February 26 stand-off. We can admonish each other about relating to the military. But Ms.Arroyo has no such qualms. There are credible reports that she has turned the ISAFP into her private intelligence agency, that she used troops in Mindanao to cheat in the 2004 elections.

Soldiers see the scandalous poverty around them like you and me. If they only subsist on their salaries and allowances, all but the top officers would live below the poverty line. They are often used by politicians and landlords against land reform beneficiaries, by capitalists to break up strikes. They know that our government is corrupt and ineffective, our politicians inept and money grubbing. If they care about all this, what are they allowed to do?

Follow the 'chain of command' to complain? They know better than to do that. Its not just that soldiers are taught not to complain. Because they know that many of their officers are corrupt, they do not even know who they can complain to. If they make a mistake, they are as likely to get punished as to get listened to. The Magdalo had to take over a fancy residential hotel to air their complaints. How many of the recommendations of the Feliciano Commission have been implemented?

More than anything else, soldiers have a sense of honor and pride. This goes with a profession where death is a just around the corner, where there is no possible recompense other than the intense camaraderie of those who share the same high risks. Too much of what goes on within the AFP violates soldiers' sense of honor and pride. What is the government's response to military grievances? A dialogue where the most important grievances are off limits!

It's not over. A few of the most exposed senior officers have lost their commands. But the regime has no way of knowing how far down the chain of command of elite units anti-Arroyo sentiment goes. The regime has no choice but to root out discontent within the ranks. But every step the regime takes to regain control will have Querubins who are respected and loved by their men. When Marines cry, beware.