DND spokesman points to Aquino as reason for resignation

MANILA, Philippines - Resigned Department of National Defense (DND) spokesman Zosimo Jesus Paredes categorically pointed yesterday to President Aquino as the reason behind his resignation.

Malacanang, however denied that the President had a hand in his resignation, saying they have yet to verify the report with the concerned agency.

Interviewed last night over radio station dzBB, Paredes disclosed he voluntarily resigned after talking with Gazmin following his controversial statement to media last week.

“In fairness, Secretary (Voltaire) Gazmin first talked with me and he told me, ‘If the President criticizes you for this, it will be the signal (for you to resign).’ So, when I was criticized by the President, I took this as the signal for me to resign,” he said.

“I must admit, it was really my mistake,” Paredes said, adding that he has no rancor in his heart against his boss, who is his Mason brother and classmate at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

“Nothing is personal. This is just work,” Paredes quipped.

“That’s what happened. We don’t want it and we don’t expect it. This consequence is inevitable,” he said.

Paredes recalled that this was not the first time he resigned his post in government for his being an outspoken spokesman. The first, he said, was his resignation as executive director of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) Commission during the Arroyo administration when he criticized the transfer of detention of US Lance Corporal Daniel Smith to the US embassy in Roxas Boulevard.

He said he was ordered to vacate his desk on Wednesday after his recent statement at a media forum that one of the options for the President under the Constitutional provisions in an event of emergencies threatening the security of state is to declare a revolutionary government.

After his statement got through the print media, he said he was summoned by his principal (Gazmin) to express his displeasure, with a warning that he should be prepared to face the consequences of his actions.

“I admitted my lapses. Although I prefaced my statement because I can’t really disassociate myself from my position,” Paredes said, explaining that his statement at the forum was an academic explanation on certain provisions of the Constitution.

Prior to vacating his post, Paredes reportedly wrote his resignation letter on Wednesday but failed to talk to Gazmin as the defense chief was out of his office then.

He left his resignation letter on Gazmin’s table, and without his staff at Office of the Public Affairs (OPA) knowing it, silently cleared his desk and left without saying a word.

Aside from being the defense spokesman, Paredes is also Gazmin’s head executive assistant, as well as the chief of the OPA since Oct. 3.

Barely a month as spokesman of the DND, Paredes said he felt very bad after the Moro Islamic Liberation Fronts (MILF) rebels massacred 19 Special Forces soldiers in Basilan.

No hard feelings

He also defended the action taken by then Army spokesman Col. Antonio Parlade, who was sacked by no less than the President after suggesting that the ongoing ceasefire should be temporarily suspended in Basilan and the troops be allowed to conduct punitive actions against the rebels.

“I felt very bad for him. I know where he was coming from. I do not blame him (Parlade) because he was speaking his true feelings and on behalf of the family members of the slain soldiers as well as the troops on the ground. It’s a big thing for the morale of the troops. He shouldn’t have been sacked immediately,” Paredes said.

As defense spokesman, he said he has to fill the gap between him and the principal (Gazmin) and sometimes he must play his job by ear.

“It was the defense chief who took me in and he can always take me out,” he said.

Palace: No forced resignation

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over dzRB that the Palace did not even know about the resignation, much more force Paredes to do it.

“There is no such thing (forced resignation). If he indeed resigned... I would rather wait for an official statement from the DND. But we have always been forthright in saying that we will leave it to the secretary of National Defense on whatever measures that he wanted to take after that particular incident,” Valte said.

She said she could remember making the clarification that the revolutionary government option was not the official position of the DND but “we will have to rely on the DND to shed light on the circumstances” surrounding Paredes’ resignation.

Paredes, a member of the defunct Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), reportedly drew flak from Malacañang for issuing unauthorized statements.

Prior to this, in the aftermath of the Recto Bank incident in the hotly contested West Philippine Sea last month that involved a patrolling Philippine Navy gunboat and a Chinese fishing vessel, Paredes said the Philippine government had apologized to China after the Navy vessel hit the Chinese fishing boat.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) later contradicted Paredes’ statement, saying no apology was needed – nor was one given – for the incident.

With Paredes’ resignation, Gazmin is now reportedly eyeing his chief of staff, Dr. Peter Paul Galvez, as the next defense spokesman. – With Aurea Calica