Fire not just Teodoro but Galvez, Año; all assassins of diplomacy
A white paper has been circulating in social media, assumably from the Philippine Military Academy community but this time saying they are from the active military.
The anonymous authors are asking the President to fire Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro as secretary of defense.
But what the country needs is not just a paradigm shift but a bit of fresh air in the security sector. The president needs a new team that can support military modernization without taking economic prosperity as hostage.
Simply firing the defense secretary will not solve our existential needs for peace and development. That will still leave the militarists and the warmongers on the loose.
For more than a year, our present security framework has assassinated diplomacy, and in its place, prepositioned the interests of the United States way beyond our own national comforts and safety. It has brought us to the fringes of nuclear war with China, Russia and North Korea, and alienated us from ASEAN centrality.
Next for firing
The second key government official that President Marcos Jr. must replace after putting him under close radar is the present presidential adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity of the Philippines who has been recently lobbying for the creation of a new position “Secretary for Peace”.
In fairness to Teodoro, the pro-American war drums were set ahead of him by Carlito Galvez, the former senior undersecretary of defense who in his short stint as officer-in charge of the department managed to poison the country’s independent foreign policy through a series of slowly building up smokes and mirrors.
On November, 2022, (AFP) chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro told the Philippine News Agency – “Yes, may bagong proposal na EDCA projects (Yes, there is a new proposal for EDCA projects). Wala pang kasiguraduhan yan (It is still not definite yet). A that time, even Galvez’ predecessor Jose Faustino Jr., OIC undersecretary, these EDCA sites are only “training facilities and warehouses”.
It was during Galvez’ watch that the American proposal to add four additional American bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement was decided. On February 2, 2023, Pentagon’s Lloyd Austin and Galvez jointly announced the cover story of boosting the disaster response of the country as the locations will also be used for humanitarian and relief operations during emergencies and natural disasters.
It is Galvez who almost singlehandedly brokered with the Americans leading to the sabotage of the peace and development agenda between China and the Philippines. It has only been less than a month that President Marcos made a state visit to Beijing where he was promised $23 billion in an economic assistance package.
What we have learned now is that since that date, all eleven bilateral proposals with China, has been held in abeyance for an American promise of to a merely $82 billion million for just military assistance related to the EDCA bases.
Inexcusable debacle
What is just as disastrous to Philippine interests, Galvez signed US and Philippine Bilateral Defense Guidelines on May 3, 2023, whose Paragraph 14 stipulates an “armed attack in the Pacific also includes incidents anywhere in the South China Sea on either Philippine or US armed forces, including their Coast Guards, aircraft, or public vessels.”
This is a blatant abuse of authority because it is a substantial amendment of our Mutual Defense Treaty with the US, without presidential fiat on both sides and ratification by the Philippine Senate or a referendum by the people, and confirmation by the US Senate.
It is scandalous enough that former four-star generals in our military, much more a former chiefs-of-staff, do not know that treaties have bills of particulars, and an accompanying map to geographically pinpoint inclusions and exclusions. It us further inexcusable for Galvez not to know that accompanying maps to the MDT show the United States does not recognize any of our claims in the South China Seas.
This was confirmed by the 1975 Kissinger Doctrine telegrammed to US Ambassador to Manila William Sullivan, and declassified in 2006. This document exposes Joe Biden and Lloyd Austin’s iron-clad commitment to President Marcos as “horse pucky” because the bilateral guidelines’ territorial novation is null and void.
Worse than ignorance, he has placed our national security under the clear and present danger of being pushed into an armed conflict, when our Constitution renounces war as an instrument of national policy. His incompetent signature enlarged our potential theatre of war by 3.5 million kilometers.
In addition, I do not have the space here but recent scandals involving decommissioning of firearms in favor of former surrenderers to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and anomalous appointment of officials, and other transactions using the Office of the President have been reported and must be investigated.
The US military sabotaged the Philippine vaccination program by putting up 300 social media accounts encouraging hesitancy and demonizing Sinovac. As former Vaccine Czar, Galvez said he does not believe this happened even after the Pentagon had already admitted the genocidal campaign. Subsequently, some 40,000 more Filipinos died during the pandemic.
Third in the firing line
The president must also investigate why National Security Adviser Eduardo Año has concentrated on issues affecting the South China Seas, when turning a blind eye to first, the deployment of the Typhon Weapon System by the US in Northern Luzon which is a violation of Article 2 Section 8 of the Constitution that says, “The Philippines consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory.”
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Nothing has been heard from Año since Typhon arrived in the Philippines last April 17 a Wednesday. Effectively the actions of the United States and its allies in the South China Seas, whether from the resupply missions to Aynngin Shoal, notions of joint patrols, to extreme joint military exercises and now the deployment of mid-range missile systems have weaponized the EDCA bases for offensive action, in gross violation of our Constitution and our two treaties with ASEAN as a neutral and nuclear-free zone.
Año has also neglected sending his spies to monitor smugglers and hoarders of agricultural products and other criminal syndicates whose cartels have caused runaway inflation of basic commodities, oblivious of Article 2 Section 9 of the Constitution – “The State shall promote a just and dynamic social order… and free the people from poverty…”
We publish the military’s white paper here verbatim:
Gibo must be replaced
“We are active members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and vehemently seek the earnest attention of our Commander-in-Chief, His Excellency President Bongbong Marcos, Jr. While we support the proper chain of command as professional soldiers, we firmly believe that Secretary Gilbert Teodoro lacks the competence to lead the defense and professionalism to take full responsibility for his actions.
“The recent Ayungin incident on June 17, which humiliated the ranks of the entire military service, is a direct result of his narcissistic attitude and ambitious pursuit of getting elected to a national post. Secretary Teodoro unilaterally decided to carry out this operation, disregarding the opposing comments from military planners and strategists at the AFP and DND.
“This Rotation and Resupply (RoRe) operation was never approved or even discussed at the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTFWPS) or the National Maritime Council (NMC). The planning of this abysmal military operation was never shared with any of the concerned government agencies that have a clear stake in the West Philippine Sea issue.
“This is precisely why it took so long for any of the agencies in the national government to issue a statement, while the People’s Republic of China dominates the social media platforms with their version of the story, humiliating the Philippine Navy’s elite force. The lack of information for the officials to counter China’s narrative was further exacerbated by Secretary Gibo’s strict order of news blackout.
“While our soldiers were being ridiculed and judged publicly with the only violation of complying with his orders, he remained quiet and never took responsibility of this operation. As an experienced politician, he only took the spotlight when he saw the right timing after the Honorable Executive Secretary’s press conference.
“Even our allies, particularly Canada, the US, and Japan, were disappointed when they deployed their vessels for the Maritime Cooperative Activity a day before the RoRe, only to later find out that they were not informed about such failed operation. As a result, their naval presence was criticized by the public for not taking action while the AFP personnel were being harassed.
“Secretary Gibo’s hasty and unreasonable decision to push for the military-led RoRe operation indicates a lack of strategic thinking in managing our WPS. It appears that his main concern is to maximize his own publicity, rather than considering the potential consequences and risks of such an operation. It is concerning that he failed to take into account the high possibility of miscalculation and the potential escalation to war.
“The morale of a significant number of our top-ranking General officers is currently low. This can be attributed to the fact that meritocracy and qualifications were not given priority when appointing AFP Unified Commanders. Instead, selections were made solely based on his personal choices. The Board of Generals has become the Board of Gibo!
“Furthermore, there is frustration and anger within the AFP regarding the unceremonious relief of Vice Admiral Abet Carlos, a 3-star General who is currently in floating status. We recognize such unfairness, as Vice Admiral Carlos is a patriotic soldier with a lengthy military service to our country.
“Mr. President, we respectfully request your intervention to replace Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro. Our problem in the West Philippine Sea will only worsen if our Defense Secretary continues to prioritize his publicity stunts instead of deescalating the tension that he has created.”
Who is Teodoro?
Teodoro has wowed a lot of people when he topped the Bar in 1989. But in his political journey he has proven that was nothing but rote memory.
His uncle, Danding Cojuangco, honed his political career for almost ten years under the Nationalist Peoples Coalition, but seeing an opportunity to kick himself upstairville, he grabbed the offer of Gloria Arroyo to join her as defense secretary.
Lacking political savvy, he switched political parties. His first cousin Lisa Cojuangco Cruz, a daughter of Danding’s, described it pointblank – “the family was hurt when Teodoro abandoned the NPC and joined the administration without a formal goodbye.”
That might be personal, but in Philippine culture, “galang” (respect) and “utang na loob” (gratitude) are essential nuances.
Karma ricocheted early on Teodoro.
As defense secretary he was also the chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Teodoro has not explained why when Typhoon Ondoy (Hurricane Ketsana) struck, there were no warnings, no first response, no effective relief distribution and no government assistance to rehabilitation to $1.15 billion property damages following the great flooding that inundated half of Metro Manila.
Ondoy killed 665 and displacing more than half-a-million people. I dealt with this in pages 17 to 51 of my book The Poverty of Power. In my mind, I could still recall the exasperation on his face as he looked clueless on top of army trucks watching thousands of people die and properties damaged.
His insensitivity further manifested as he decided to run for president in 2010 against his own cousin Noynoy Aquino.
Asked about his own feud with the family of his uncle, industrialist and Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) founder Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, he said he said “I’m not going down to that level because that should have no place in the current presidential race.”
Instead of mending fences with Danding, he dished out a propaganda line “We are talking about the country, not one family, not the hurt feelings of one person … and for the good of the people, I’d go for the Filipino people than the hurt feelings of a family.”
This attitude sent his aunt Gretchen Cojuangco, wife of Danding, to endorse before the television cameras, “Anybody but Gibo!” The net impression he leaves is that he only uses people to get what he wants, after which he turns against them.
So full of himself, he was totally oblivious that he was starting another family feud, running against another cousin, Noynoy Aquino who made a mincemeat of Teodoro’s presidential ambitions that netted only 4 million votes – not even enough to land a senate seat. Gibo landed fourth behind Aquino’s 15 million and behind Jejomar Binay and Manny Villar.
Teodoro ran again in 2022 for the senate, and lost again even if he was running under the Marcos-Duterte Uni-Team Alliance.
In the political front he could not row forward. This wannabe, first for the presidency and later for a senate seat, besides not being trustworthy, has proved nothing of gravitas in service for the Filipino people.
Marcos must remove him before Teodoro unseats him through a US-staged coup d’etat.
Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan
is former diplomat who served as press attaché and spokesman of the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC and the Philippines’ Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from April 1986 to 1993. Presently, he is vice-president for international affairs of the Asian Century Philippines Institute, a geopolitical analyst, author of books, columnist, a print and broadcast journalist, and a hobby-organic-farmer.
His best sellers, A Problem for Every Solution (2015), a characterization of factors affecting Philippine-China relations, and No Vaccine for a Virus called Racism (2020) a survey of international news attempting to tracing its origins, earned for him an international laureate in the Awards for the Promotion of Philippine-China Understanding in 2021. His third book, The Poverty of Power is now available – a historiography of controversial issues of spanning 36 years leading to the Demise of the Edsa Revolution and the Forthcoming Rise of a Philippine Phoenix.
Today he is anchor for many YouTube Channels, namely Ang Maestro Lectures @Katipunan Channel (Saturdays), Unfinished Revolution (Sundays) and Opinyon Online (Wednesdays) with Ka Mentong Laurel, and Ipa-Rush Kay Paras with former Secretary Jacinto Paras (Tuesdays and Thursdays). His personal vlog is @AdoPaglinawan.
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