COURAGE, the national center of government employees, registered their
support today to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Rank and File
Association’s statement against the appointment of Armed Forces Chief of Staff
Gen. Alexander Yano and Vice Chief of Staff L. Gen. Cardozo Luna as ambassadors
to Brunei and The Netherlands, respectively.

“President Arroyo’s practice of militarizing the bureaucracy is not only
a cause of demoralization among the ranks of civilian employees but also a sign
of an insecure regime. Arroyo’s cabinet has already turned into a military
armory which is a clear symptom of a creeping martial rule,” said Ferdinand
Gaite, COURAGE National President.

Yano and Luna are an addition to the more than 25 ex-military and police
officers holding the most powerful, strategic and coveted positions in the
government. The list includes Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Department of
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, Presidential Adviser on Peace Avelino Razon,
DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza, SSS Chairman
Thelmo Cunanan, MIAA General Manager Angel Atutubo, MRT Corp. President Roberto
Lastimoso, LTFRB Chairman Danilo Lantion, Office of Civil Defense Exec.
Director Glenn Rabonza, Bases Conversion Development Authority Chief Narciso
Abaya,  Manila Economic and Cultural
Office head Edgardo Espinosa and Philippine Retirement Agency head Edgardo
Aglipay

The recent appointments of the two topmost military officers are not the
first in the history of the Arroyo government. Roy Cimatu ,special envoy to the
Middle East, Generoso Senga to Iran, Vidal Querol to Indonesia, Efren Abu to
BIMP-Eaga, and Ernesto de Leon to Australia are just a few of the ex-military
men who are occupying ambassadorial posts.

The leader added that the seeming abuse of the President’s prerogative
is clearly an affront to the merit and promotion system supposedly working in
the civil service. “There are more good men and women in the bureaucracy who
rose from ranks and tested in service. These generals definitely do not have
the monopoly of leadership and discipline, qualities attributed to them to
justify the appointments. Yano and Luna have not undergone any training nor
passed exams which DFA career officers had before entering the diplomatic
service. This is another instance of Arroyo’s outright disrespect of the
democratic selection and promotion process within the bureaucracy,” stated
Gaite.

“We are not amused with Arroyo’s standards for merit and promotion. Yano
and Luna’s main credential for landing in diplomatic posts, wherein they will
enjoy a bountiful amount of salary and benefits, is their undying loyalty to
Arroyo. It is disgusting that someone can only get a promotion in the Arroyo
government, if he incessantly pleases the President by lying and cheating for
the First Family, exclaimed Gaite.

The group said that they will coordinate with the DFA employees to push
a campaign against the appointments of Yano and Luna in any diplomatic posts.
They are also set to press the Senate and Congress to investigate and initiate
possible measures to curb the practice of recycling ex-generals. #