red joktober

jok as in joke.  not to make light of the threat, because it IS  a threat, allegedly from the communist left in coalition with other leftists and oppositionists right and center.  but it is funny that instead of doing something about it, nipping it in the bud, ika nga, the military brass is making them sumbong to us, the public.  and it is funny that no one seems to know anything about a wondrous coalition happening anytime soon.  unless katrina and i are so out of the loop?  if yes, that’s really hilarious, and kinda pathetic.  if no, and wala talagang any opposition-coalition cooking, then we should wonder why the military brass refuses to drop it.  we should wonder why it is in the interest of the military to put us all on red alert, so to speak.

“Ang nakikita namin (What we are seeing) is the President is being dragged to declare martial law nationwide, [and] most probably a revolutionary government,” Galvez said during a Senate hearing on the budget of the Department of National Defense.

that’s afp chief of staff carlito galvez, PMA class ’85, who leads the intense information campaign vs all opposition to and criticism of the duterte administration, including film showings and plays depicting the military as killers and torturers.  galvez has no problem facing the cameras and spinning a tale of conspiracy and chaos to come, in effect telling us to brace and prepare ourselves, something’s going down.

i remember galvez from the 1989 coup attempt, one of the young officers who was with honasan (in coalition with marcos loyalists) in staging the bloodiest attempt to topple cory aquino.  reported were ninety-nine (99) killed and 570 wounded.

Participants of the December 1989 coup later blamed perceived deficiencies in the Aquino government in areas such as graft and corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency, and lenient treatment of communist insurgents as the reasons for the coup. [Davide Commission Report 470]

to my mind, every one of those coup attempts in the time of cory was either enrile-RAM and/or marcos-loyalist instigated to undo the mistake enrile made in EDSA of supporting cory’s claim to the presidency instead of just grabbing the power.  wala lang sa kanila ang bloodshed, okay lang, as we saw in ’89.  galit na, pa, rin sila noon sa komunista and they hated cory for not heeding enrile’s and FVR’s advice not to release all political detainees, joma and ka dante in particular.  and they hated that there were leftists in cory’s cabinet.

it’s been almost 30 years, the amnestied galvez is now AFP chief of staff in the time of duterte.  his latest sumbong is really a lament about the image of the military.

The propaganda that there is a “looming dictatorship” under Duterte is delivered to the students through film showings and plays in the campus, he said.

“Nakikita natin na parang they are branding the government. May dramatization na ‘yung martial law nung Marcos regime, then they associated it to the current administration,” the AFP chief said.

Galvez admitted that the military committed “many abuses during the 1972 declaration of martial law,” but assured the public that the institution has “changed a lot.”

“It’s very unfair for us. ‘Yung tinatawag nating martial law ngayon, pinag-iigi namin,” he said.

“Nakita natin during the Marawi crisis, we declared martial law Mindanao-wide. Talagang ‘yung rules of engagement, ‘yung human rights talagang we are promoting it,” he said.

so, is the good general advocating censorship?  and does he really think marawi is anything to brag about?  and what exactly is general galvez warning us about here in the metro?  expect a bombing here, a bombing there, an ambush here, an ambush there, that duterte will blame on the communists, sabay impose martial law nationwide, and declare a revolutionary government thereafter a la cory?  and then, what?  annoint a successor, and then step down?  bongbong takes over, backed by a military junta?  ito ba ang pinapangarap ni galvez at ng sandatahang lakas?

it’s like galvez and his ilk are caught in a time warp, aching for the good old marcosian days when the military reigned violently supreme.  as though EDSA never happened, as though we have not seen for ourselves that soldiers can be disarmed by great numbers of unarmed people ready to die for country.

galvez et al should have taken the cue instead from FVR who considered EDSA a way of atonement for his role in martial law.  EDSA could have occasioned a reinvention of the military as a force in the service of the people and not in the service of a repressive oppressive state.

level up naman, mga sir.  hindi komunista ang matinding kaaway kundi kahirapan at korupsyon, economic and environment policies that favor the rich, foreign policies that favor foreign interests, at kung anoano pang systemic flaws begging for change.

konting nuance please, mr. general.  ano ba talaga ang agenda?  ma-so-solve ba ang inflation, high prices, falling peso?  dumadaing na ang bayan.  pahirap nang pahirap ang buhay.  we’re not in the mood for bad jokes.