The Only Solution

The AFP is very worried about the Carlos Garcia issue.

DEFENSE Undersecretary Antonio Santos, a highly respect- able man by my instant recollection, told a Senate commit- tee that "some groups are plotting to use the (Carlos) Garcia scandal to agitate restive officers" in the military.

Santos explained that " some groups are meeting regarding this and they said that they'll make a big issue out of this, and maybe use this as a vehicle to agitate the young officers". Expectedly, he refused to reveal specifics of his "discovery" but said he was willing to do so in a closed "executive" session.

The AFP spokesman, Gen. Edilberto Adan immediately squelched the resulting coup scare, invoking the usual mantra of the AFP's loyalty to duly constituted authority. Lakas and Kampi congressmen joined the chorus, warning against "provocateurs". But of course.

I think the defense secretary got it wrong. The best way to squelch the coup rumors is not to coverup and obstruct justice -- but to be transparent and open about the massive corruption that went on inside the AFP.

There is only one way to defuse whatever tensions the Garcia caper may have unleashed within the military establishment. And that is to let out the truth and nothing but the truth. The whole, unvarnished, undiluted truth about how the long-time comptroller of the AFP amassed wealth so fabulous, and who else benefited from his financial legerdemain. Fiat justitiae, ruat coeli, as idealistic students of the law are taught. Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.

Anything less than full transparency will be fodder for agitation and unrest, whether in the immediate or in the immediate future. With people at their wit's end on how to survive by the day, tempers can run short. Soldiers are people too, and their families suffer just like every Filipino does.

And on the three cabinet men who are under investigation by U.S. authorities for possible graft, all of them have military backgrounds.

And 4 current GMA officials fit that description:

-Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita (PMA Class '57)
-Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes (Class '66)
-Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza (Class '69)
-National Security Adviser Hermogenes Ebdane (Class '70)