GMA wants law to protect military secrets

President Arroyo has ordered the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces to help Malacañang draft a bill seeking the protection of military secrets.

Administrative Order 197, which Mrs. Arroyo signed on Sept. 25, also directed the two agencies to coordinate with the Presidential Human Rights Committee to speed up investigation on cases of unexplained killings and enforced disappearances.

The DND and AFP, along with the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, were also instructed to work with local governments to fast-track local peace initiatives and ceasefires, particularly in Bohol, Butuan City and other priority areas.

Mrs. Arroyo directed the DND and AFP to work with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, and other sectoral and civil society groups to ask Congress to immediately approve the amnesty proclamation she issued last month.

The two agencies were also ordered to inform troops, the public and media about the recommendations of the Davide and Feliciano Commissions, and what further measures must be done in the case of unexplained killings and enforced disappearances.

The two commissions were formed following coup attempts during the Aquino and Arroyo administrations to investigate the causes of military adventurism.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals ordered yesterday the Armed Forces to present in court by Oct. 18 its report on the investigation into the disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos.

“On the issue of confidentiality, respondents laboriously discussed the process on how classified information is safeguarded and the necessity of securing the consent of the concerned department head and a security clearance before one could have access to such classified information,” the CA said.

“However, there is no showing on record that the Provost Marshall’s investigation report has been classified as confidential,” read the order.

The CA said the military did not invoke the confidentiality of the report but merely requested that it be to be allowed to seek permission of  the military brass before releasing the report.

“It is only now that respondents are invoking the defense of confidentiality which, to our mind, is a mere afterthought and a last-ditch attempt to avoid compliance with this Court’s subpoena,” read the order.

“We therefore find no cogent reason to quash the subpoena on this ground.”

In yesterday’s hearing, Col. Arthur Abadilla, the provost marshall, again failed to present the report to the dismay of the CA justices.

Justice Remedios Salazar-Fernando told Abadilla that he promised during their last hearing to present his report in case the CA junks its motion for reconsideration.

Abadilla told the court that AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. had refused to give him clearance to submit a copy of the report, citing Memorandum Circular 78.

Justice Enrico Lanzanas told Abadilla that the circular is not binding on the CA but only to the military and the executive department.

“That memorandum circular cannot bind this court, that is applicable only to the military and executive department,” he said.

Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Tang said the military report may be shown to the CA justices and petitioner Edita Burgos but cannot be used to form part of the records of the case.

Abadilla can face administrative and criminal liabilities if he reveals the report without clearance from his superior, she added.

Under Memorandum Circular 78 signed by then President Diosdado Macapagal on Aug. 14, 1964, a classified document is defined as an information and material the unauthorized disclosure of which, while not endangering national security, would be prejudicial to the interest or prestige of the nation or any government activity or would cause administrative embarrassment or unwarranted injury to an individual or would be of advantage to a foreign nation, Tang said.

The disagreement between the defense and prosecution lawyers later prompted the justices to call for an executive session.

After the executive session, the Court announced that the parties agreed to give the AFP until Oct. 18 to submit its investigation report on Burgos’ abduction.

Ricardo Fernandez, lawyer for the Burgos family, told reporters Esperon could be cited for contempt if he continues to block the presentation of the Provost Marshall’s report in court by the Oct. 18 deadline.    – Paolo Romero, Mike Frialde