Not even in the days of idolatry for Douglas MacArthur have Philippine presidents so avidly bootlicked a general as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s been doing the past few days.

The definitive account of Hermogenes Esperon?s career?and the era in which he rose to become the top general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)?has yet to be written. We have to wonder, though, if that account, if it?s ever written, will prove what Esperon asserts: that during his watch, the AFP ?made a strong stand against military adventurism.?

To be sure, a case can be made for Esperon having decided to adhere to civilian supremacy as the political crisis erupted in 2005, and most especially in 2006. However, he will forever remain embroiled in allegations that some of the top brass engaged in electoral maneuvering in 2004. The commander in chief he has served has made it impossible, as a matter of political survival, to resolve those questions. So in defending her, he also defended her political strategy of keeping all questions hanging, while fending off any challenges to her rule.

This meant that his defense of the President in 2006, when, by all accounts, he played a crucial role as Army chief in maintaining then-AFP Chief of Staff Generoso Senga?s loyalty to the President, was not as altruistic as he wants it remembered.

Posterity may end up having to point out that if anyone made a strong stand, it was, indeed, Esperon?and only at the last minute, for reasons that have more to do with the controversies that have hounded his career since the 2004 elections than any real loyalty to civilian supremacy.

But that is for future chroniclers to determine. What can be said is that the President?s falling all over herself with praise as Esperon retires underscores how she?s perched on a throne of bayonets. After a brief tussle over the possibility Esperon would become the next Secretary of National Defense?a trial balloon swiftly popped by Gilbert Teodoro?the President has made it emphatically clear her favorite general will get a civilian berth in her administration.

And so, the least that can be said is that the military infiltration of the civilian bureaucracy marches on. As does the President?s purely transactional approach toward running the country?s basic institutions.

Take, for instance, the most tangible reward the President gave Esperon for services rendered. Neither she nor he was shy about giving Esperon credit for securing a presidential pardon for nine Oakwood mutineers. Esperon called the President compassionate for setting aside the sentences of imprisonment imposed on Captains Gerardo Gambala and Milo Maestrecampo and seven others.

Essentially, what Esperon?s taking credit for is arranging a plea bargain. In exchange for pleading guilty, the nine Oakwood mutineers were swiftly convicted, establishing a precedent for their less cooperative comrades-in-rebellion. Then Esperon could claim credit for looking after even his erring men, while the President got to use her pardoning power for political purposes yet again.

Make no mistake, there was neither unqualified mercy nor real justice surrounding the pardon. The pardon was conditional?a Damocles? sword?and the President signed the papers as a reward for an officer, Esperon, and not because of the justness of the pleas of the convicted soldiers. It was like the Fidel Ramos-era push-ups for mutineers, except involving more paperwork.

It would have been healthier, institutionally speaking, if Esperon had smiled and waved from the grandstand during his retirement parade, and then gone home to fade away. Instead, it seems he?s headed for a brief vacation while his new office, whatever it may be, is prepared for him in the executive department.

The pride of professional force lies in providing proof that no one is irreplaceable. The President doesn?t believe this. Her actions always indicate that consolidation is the name of the game and that there are players she obsessively believes aren?t expendable. Esperon?s mission remains to guard her back.