Gonzales named acting DND chief

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo has appointed National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales to replace Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Malacañang announced yesterday.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Gonzales would take the post in an acting capacity effective tomorrow to allow Teodoro to focus on preparations for his campaign for the 2010 presidential elections.

Ermita said the appointment of Gonzales would be in an acting capacity since Congress is still in session.

Ermita added there is no decision on the appointment of a new National Security Adviser since Gonzales could probably handle the defense portfolio in concurrent capacity, with only seven months before the Arroyo administration ends.

It was not the first time Gonzales has held the top defense post. In 2007, before Teodoro was appointed to the post, he was designated officer-in-charge of the Department of National Defense.

Ermita said Teodoro resigned even as the Supreme Court has yet to decide on the legality of the status of appointed officials who have openly declared their desire to seek elective positions in next year’s elections.

He said Teodoro had to quit his post as defense chief for practical reasons, to enable him to focus on his campaign and avoid accusations of using his position to further his campaign.

“His (Teodoro’s) continued stay at the DND actually prevents him from going around and he also does not want his good work at the DND to be seen as politicking,” Ermita said.

Ermita also said there is no word yet on replacements for other Cabinet officials who are expected to file their resignations before filing their certificates of candicacy (COCs) before the Dec. 1 deadline set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

He said Mrs. Arroyo might appoint career officials to replace the resigning Cabinet members.

Among those expected to file their COCs for local and national elective posts are Presidential Management Staff chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, and Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza.

Teodoro is running for president under the administration party with former Optical Media Board chairman and television host Edu Manzano.

Teodoro, for his part, told reporters that he already knew of the appointment but declined to name him.

During his farewell tour where he was accorded the honors of flying a C-130 “champagne flight,” Teodoro said his replacement is another civilian like him.

Teodoro was accorded the honors of a champagne flight usually given to retiring Air Force pilots.

A lawyer by profession, Teodoro is also a licensed commercial pilot and a reserve Air Force officer with the rank of full colonel.

Teodoro hung up his pilot gloves in Cebu City after flying the C-130 plane to Zamboanga City and Palawan from Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. The flight earned Teodoro 4.2 flying hours.

“This champagne flight symbolizes the end of my flying career as a C-130 Air Force officer-pilot,” Teodoro said.

Last flight, new horizons

Teodoro landed at the Andrews Ebuen Air Force Base in Zamboanga City where he addressed the troops led by Western Mindanao Command chief Maj. Gen Ben Dolorfino.

“This will be my last flight as C-130 pilot and my last visit to you as Defense secretary. I thank each and every one of you for supporting and bearing with me in our no-letup campaign against terrorism,” Teodoro said.

Teodoro was accorded full military honors in Mactan, Cebu, homebase of the Air Force’s 220th Airlift Wing.

“All good things must come to an end but another good thing is coming up and that good thing is the friendship between us and that must not be forgotten at all times,” Teodoro told the airmen in Cebu.

Teodoro would be considered officially resigned once Gonzales takes over in a simple ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo tomorrow.

“There will be a testimonial parade on Monday and after that, as much as possible, I will never return to the defense department to avoid talks that I am meddling,” he said.

Teodoro though made a last ditch effort to sustain the campaign against terrorism.

“No compromise. Go bring the fight to them, but be safe,” he told the troops.

Teodoro said he was on the verge of quitting his post earlier during the kidnapping crisis of Italian Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni.

Teodoro said he would have resigned if the Abu Sayyaf had killed Vagni.

Vagni and two other Red Cross workers were seized by the Abu Sayyaf last January but were eventually freed.

‘Hell on earth’

Militant lawmakers yesterday condemned the appointment of Gonzales.

Anakpawis Reps. Joel Maglunsod and Rafael Mariano said the appointment of Gonzales would be like “hell on earth as human rights violations are expected to further escalate with Gonzales, a known militarist, at the helm of the defense department.”

“Without any pretense, President Arroyo shamelessly placed Gonzales, her triggerman, in a better position to shoot at her critics and political foes,” Maglunsod said.

He added that the appointment of Gonzales is “a direct attack on human rights and civil and political liberties” and a “great disregard and insult” to the findings and recommendations of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Mariano, for his part, predicted that Gonzales “will surely continue to politicize and mobilize the military for his own self-serving political ambition.”

“We expect more extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, and filing of trumped-up charges against progressive party-list organizations and candidates, especially in the coming elections because of his Red baiting and anti-communist bias,” he said.

Mariano said Gonzales headed the defunct Inter-Agency Legal Action Group that was behind the filing of “false and trumped-up charges” against militant lawmakers.

Gonzales earned the ire of militant lawmakers for accusing them of getting their campaign funds from the communist New People’s Army.

Gonzales went on to accuse militant lawmakers of fronting for the communist rebels. - With Jaime Laude