‘Military reforms started before mutiny’

President Arroyo said yesterday that the military reforms she announced recently were already being implemented beginning last year and were not prompted by the July 27 mutiny.

"The government is prepared to address the grievances of the soldiers, but they should never put the law into their own hands," the President said in her weekly radio message.

"It is important for our people to know that the reforms in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were not a result of and do not justify the failed mutiny," she said.

More than 300 soldiers and officers occupied the Oakwood Premiere Ayala Center apartment hotel in Makati City on July 27.

They demanded that Mrs. Arroyo resign, along with Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and other officials but surrendered after a 22-hour standoff.

The President said she had successfully pushed the passage of a law last year to raise the pay of Army privates and their equivalents from P7,800 to P11,300 per month.

She also had land allocated for low-cost troop housing and changed the military supply procurement process in a bid to prevent graft.

"While we are still trying to find the truth behind these grievances, we have already moved to address them," Mrs. Arroyo said, citing the P100 million she ordered released for boots and equipment for soldiers in combat.

The President expressed hopes the six-member Feliciano Commission she created "to investigate the roots of the rebellion and what provoked it to happen" would come up with a "thorough, unbiased and non-partisan examination" of the incident.

The commission is headed by reitred Supreme Court Associate Justice Florentino Feliciano. Mrs. Arroyo created the panel through Administrative Order 78, which she issued three days after the mutiny.

She believes that the commission will "render enlightened recommendations on how to prevent (the mutiny) from happening again."

"I similarly hope Congress can shed light on the subject and come up with productive and preventive legislation," Mrs. Arroyo said, referring to inquiries being conducted separately the Senate and the House of Representatives.

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez, for his part, questioned the mutineers’ refusal to appear before the Feliciano Commission, saying it was the right forum to bring up their accusations.

"I think the experience they had, after many things have been uncovered, after their failure to answer so many things, apparently they’re scared to appear again (before) the Feliciano Commission," he said.

Golez added that he is not sure the mutineers, particularly Navy Lt. (sg) Antonio Trillanes IV, will appear again before the Senate since they were "apparently unmasked as false messiahs."

Trillanes, "the so-called moral guardian, is now facing insurmountable moral issues against him," he said, referring to the corruption charges filed against Trillanes.

The government filed the charge for Trillanies failure to declare at least seven luxury vehicles and to explain where he got P1 million to invest in a pyramide scheme.

At the same time, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye welcomed the bill filed by opposition Rep. Rolex Suplico creating a fact-finding commission on the mutiny.

Bunye said the Palace draft bill was patterned after the proclamation that created the Davide Commission that looked into the several failed coup attempts during the Aquino administration.

Meanwhile, opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel called for one more hearing with the mutineers as he urged his colleagues to tailor their line of questioning to ferret out reasons behind the mutiny and not to demolish the rogue soldiers’ credibility.

"We need to hear them one more time. But the Senate inquiry would have to be careful not to intrude into the area of the Feliciano Commission... Ours is more of legislative in nature," Pimentel said in a weekly news forum.

Pimentel’s proposal contradicted a call made earlier by Sen. Robert Barbers for Senate President Franklin Drilon to terminate the ongoing inquiry into the failed mutiny. — AP, Marichu Villanueva, Pamela Samia, Jose Rodel Clapano