Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri, a a member of Philippine Military Academy class ’83 was appointed as the new Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. PMA
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri reminded soldiers on Tuesday to stay out of politics as the election fever starts to heat up.
AFP public affairs chief Col. Noel Detoyato said Iriberri had ordered the military to remain non-partisan during his recent visits to ground units.
Iriberri, who assumed as chief of the 125,000-strong armed forces last July 10, has been visiting military unified commands since last weekend. He visited the Western Command in Palawan and the Central Command in Cebu last Saturday and the Tarlac-based Northern Luzon Command last Sunday.
“One of his stern reminders about the election is that soldiers should be non-partisan,” Detoyato said in a press briefing Tuesday.
“It was just a reminder. He took advantage of the visit to remind our troops,” he added.
The battle lines for the 2016 polls are now being drawn with politicians starting to declare their bid for key posts.
Vice President Jejomar Binay, who never concealed his intention to run for president, resigned from the Aquino cabinet last June and has launched the United Nationalist Alliance, the main opposition party.
Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, meanwhile, was endorsed as the presidential bet of the Liberal Party-led administration coalition last July 31.
Interestingly, both Binay and Roxas have connections to the military. Binay is a reserve Marine colonel and is an adopted member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) class ’88.
Roxas, meanwhile, is an honorary member of PMA class ’84.
While the constitution bars the military from dipping its finger in partisan politics, some officers have been dragged in controversies involving alleged poll fraud.
In 2005, some generals were accused of rigging the 2004 poll results after their names were mentioned in the “Hello Garci” tapes. The recordings allegedly detailed the plan to manipulate the vote canvassing to ensure the victory of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was then seeking reelection.
The audio files contained wiretapped conversations between a woman believed to be Arroyo and a poll official believed to be then Commission on Elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
The woman was asking the election official if she can win by more than one million votes.
During the height of the “Hello Garci” scandal, a report detailing the massive cheating in Mindanao surfaced.
Dubbed as “Sins of the Cavaliers,” the report claimed that poll watchers in Jolo were bribed to leave the canvassing area. Arroyo later on apologized for talking to an election official but did not admit to cheating.
Detoyato assured the pubic that the military would no longer be dragged into a mess similar to the “Hello Garci” scandal.
“We will make sure it will not happen again. The AFP has proven in many instances that it is non-partisan,” he added.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/08/04/1484529/afp-chief-reminds-troops-be-politically-neutral
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