LAST week, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US government agency providing economic assistance to eligible countries who meet certain criteria, announced that it will not provide such assistance to the Philippines because of, among other things, a continuing drop in its ?control of corruption.? Coming on the heels of the World Bank announcement that the Philippines ranked worst in corruption among East Asia?s Top 10 economies, can anyone still doubt that our country is in a free fall when it comes to corruption?
On the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, let this serve as a reminder to our men and women in uniform that we continue to prop up a regime that has spawned a culture of corruption resulting in a deadly cancer within our society. From 2001 to 2008, from Impsa to a computerization scandal costing the Filipino taxpayer more than a billion pesos, followed by a fertilizer scam involving almost the same amount and on to ZTE-NBN, an overpriced deal which our children and grandchildren would have had to pay for?there has been no transparency, no accountability, no leadership by example. While we are called upon to uphold and defend the Constitution, the civilian leadership continues to make a mockery of the very institutions that were created in accordance with that Constitution. The selective application of justice to favor those in power makes the so-called ?rule of law? in this country one big joke?a joke almost as bad as Zimbabwe?s Robert Mugabe announcing the end of a cholera epidemic in his country. Now this administration is pursuing Charter change in a bid to hold on to power after May 2010.
For the Filipino soldier, the times call for discernment and vigilance.
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My very first column in the Inquirer was on the visit of then-US Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki. It was billed by security officials as a routine courtesy call prior to retirement from the service. I noted that it has never been customary for US Army commanders to call on their Philippine counterparts prior to retirement.
Shinseki?s grandfather was raised in Hiroshima and migrated to Hawaii at about the same time many of our Ilocano folks chose to work in the pineapple and sugarcane fields of Hawaii during the early part of the 20th century. Shinseki?s parents were nisei?second-generation American-born descendants of Japanese immigrants. Shinseki himself is a sansei?third-generation son of nisei, and was born on the island of Kauai, one of the main islands of what was then known as the Territory of Hawaii (T.H.). When my father was Philippine consul-general to Hawaii after World War II, it was still a territory of the United States and home to the largest overseas community of Filipino workers, our original OFWs.
Pearl Harbor made all Japanese-Americans security risks and many were rounded up and thrown into concentration camps along the West Coast, losing much of their property and living under difficult circumstances. However, unlike our veterans who are still waiting for benefits promised by Uncle Sam, Japanese-Americans who were affected by the war received compensation from the American people by an act of the US Congress.
In 1961, Eric Shinseki entered the US Military Academy and graduated with the class of 1965. He served in the Vietnam War, losing the front half of his right foot after stepping on a land mine. Everyone thought that that was the end of his military career.
But he stayed on, outfitted with an artificial foot, and worked his way up the ranks until he became US Army vice chief of staff. In June 1991, President Bill Clinton appointed Shinseki army chief of staff, the first American of Japanese ancestry to hold this position and the highest ranking Asian-American in US military history.
Noting that Shinseki had a four-year mandate, I commented that we need to get rid of our revolving-door policy of having a chief of staff from anywhere between three months and a year if we are to properly address our national security concerns. But all these calls have fallen on deaf ears.
In February 2003, testifying before the US Senate?s Armed Services Committee on preparations for a possible Iraqi invasion, Shinseki said: ?Something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers is a figure that would be required. We are talking about post-hostility control over a piece of geography with the kinds of the ethnic tension that could lead to other problems. And so it takes a significant ground force presence.?
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, dismissed his remarks as ?wildly off the mark,? with Wolfowitz adding that ?the notion that it would take several hundred thousand American troops just seems outlandish.? The same Wolfowitz claimed that US forces would be welcomed by the Iraqi people as liberators.
In June 2003, Shinseki retired from the military service. Neither Rumsfeld nor Wolfowitz attended his retirement ceremonies. He was not fired but was lame-ducked by an early announcement of his successor. Before massed Army formations, he addressed his soldiers by saying: ?My name is Shinseki and I am a soldier ... an American soldier who was born in the midst of World War II, began his service in Vietnam and retires today in the midst of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.? He warned the leadership of pursuing ?a twelve-division strategy for a ten-division army.? (In a similar vein, is the AFP addressing security problems with undermanned and under-equipped battle units? So far, MILF commanders Kato and Bravo have not been brought to justice.) He ended his valedictory with the same line with which he started: ?My name is Shinseki and I am a soldier. God bless all of you and your families. Thank you and goodbye.?
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Last Dec. 7, on the 67th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, US President-elect Barack Obama announced his nomination of Shinseki as secretary for veterans affairs in his cabinet. In his new job, Shinseki will oversee some 240,000 personnel providing health care, education and disability benefits for over 24 million US veterans.
In accepting the position, Shinseki declared, ?I can think of no higher responsibility than ensuring that the men and women who served our nation in uniform are treated with the care and respect that they have earned.?
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A Merry Christmas to all, particularly our fellow senior citizens. May we enjoy the blessings of the holiday season and good health keeping in mind our less fortunate brothers.
