Leadership vacuum

First, some food for thought. Well-meaning members of the military and civil sectors of society have brought up concerns regarding the generous benefits and compensation packages being handed out to family members of the Special Action Force’s 44 troopers who died in the recent Mamasapano massacre.

They ask: What about those soldiers and policemen who were victims in the past of the same kind of atrocities inflicted by Moro Islamic Liberation Front/Abu Sayyaf elements? In 2007, 14 Marines were killed in an attempt to rescue Italian missionary Giancarlo Bossi, at Al-Barka, Basilan. In October 2011, 19 Special Forces troopers were massacred by the same enemy, also at Al-Barka. In both instances, the victims suffered mutilation and beheading.

How about simple cases of those killed while in the line of duty? Does death have to be on the same scale and stage as the Mamasapano incident, to merit special benefits for

the victims?

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The Cory years in government would be marked by a number of coup attempts by disgruntled military factions. Some were serious; others were half-hearted efforts aimed at maintaining some semblance of continuing resistance to the new administration. In this critical and unstable environment, a number of friendships and alliances were formed by members of then president Cory Aquino’s family with relatively junior military and police officers who would later serve in key positions during the stewardship of her son, incumbent President Aquino. All served as members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG), the unit entrusted with the safety and protection of the first family.

The most prominent among them is Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, who started his close relationship with the Aquino family as the jailor of senator Benigno Aquino Jr. during the martial law years. When the Edsa revolution ended the dictatorship, Gazmin would head a smaller, more compact version of Gen. Fabian Ver’s Presidential Security Command. To help revitalize the organization, Gazmin brought in new blood, mostly officers who had served in other units of the armed forces, including the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police services that was part of the defense structure.

P-Noy’s first AFP chief of staff, Gen. Ricardo David, came from this group. He would later serve as immigration chief upon his retirement from the Armed Forces. Another PSG veteran to serve as AFP chief is Gen. Jessie Dellosa, now the deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Customs.

Perhaps, the most prominent among the Aquino security officers who were favored with important and critical positions in government happens to be one of the closest in terms of personal relationship with P-Noy. Apparently, as an intelligence officer in the PSG, Alan La Madrid Purisima served in close association with the young Aquino, resulting in a bonding that through the years brought them much closer than what could normally be expected from such an attachment. The mutual interest in the use of firearms certainly contributed to the strong ties.

Purisima, a native of San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur, graduated from the Philippine Military Academy with the class of 1981. His classmates, some of whom are still in the active service, occupy the highest positions in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police (PNP). Among them are AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, head of Westmincom, and the current PNP officer in charge, Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina.

After serving in various key positions of the national police organization, including stints as chief of the PoliceAnti-Crime and Emergency Response, and as head of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force, Purisima was assigned as the regional director for the National Capital Region covering Metro Manila.

On Dec. 18, 2012, President Aquino appointed this close friend of his as director general of the PNP.

Exactly two years later, in an abrupt change of direction for a career that was at one time headed toward greater heights, Purisima was suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman on corruption charges involving unexplained wealth and huge discounts on a private vehicle purchase, as well as questionable procedures in the renovation of official quarters inside Camp Crame.

Despite his suspension, Purisima, from all appearances, continued to enjoy the President’s confidence and support. Instead of appointing a new PNP chief or, at the very least, an acting chief, President Aquino designated Deputy Director General Espina as officer in charge of the PNP, and, apparently, he continued to consult with Purisima on operational matters that should have been rightly taken up through an official chain of command.

Thus were laid the seeds of the Mamasapano disaster. It turns out that the ground force commander, Chief Supt. Getulio Napeñas, was taking orders (or “heeding advice”) from a suspended police chief, to the extent of keeping his direct superior, PNP officer in charge Espina, as well as Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, in the dark, as per instructions from Purisima.

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To date, Espina has been OIC for more than two months. How much longer do we have to wait for the President to appoint a permanent PNP chief if only to stabilize and provide direction for the organization whose morale continues to remain at rock-bottom in the absence of significant leadership development?

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Last month, on Feb. 3 to be precise, Commission on Audit Chair Grace Pulido Tan retired from government service after serving three years and 290 days of the unfinished term of her predecessor, Reynaldo Villar. The latter had resigned from the post. The COA under Tan’s watch, helped the justice department file charges before the Ombudsman in relation to the alleged illegal diversion of Priority Development Assistance Fund to fake projects and beneficiaries.

We ask the same question of the President: How long do we have to wait for such an important vacancy to be filled? One would think that there should have already been enough time spent in vetting potential nominees so that government functions are not unduly hampered or compromised.

The vacuum that exists in such vital agencies of government like the PNP and the COA cannot be allowed to continue much longer. It only indicates the absence of resolve, competence and firm leadership at the very top.