General Garcia on war / Bacani’s own war

While the President was just starting to hold office in Mindanao, Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, Vice Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines, was talking about the war in Mindanao before journalists at the Bulong-Pulungan sa Westin Philippine Plaza the other day. The general, most likely successor to Gen. Angelo Reyes, who is with the President and who is believed to be interested in running for senator (if not president) in next year’s elections, justified the present (albeit "limited") military offensives against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces as due to the latter’s recent attacks on areas in Lanao del Norte and Zamboanga del Norte.

The MILF’s declaration of a unilateral ceasefire has not been accepted by the government, General Garcia said. It remains for the MILF to show its sincerity, that it would not mount attacks against the government forces and civilians. The government, he said, has no obligation to accept that unilateral ceasefire. "We have been burned in the past," he said.

He said, in answer to a question, that the solution to the conflict will take time, and there must be an understanding of the historical roots of the conflict. He sounded sympathetic to the Muslim rebels‚ condition, saying that government actions from the time of the Spaniards to that of the Americans had deprived Muslims in Mindanao of their land. The American government’s passing of the Public Land Act, which encouraged Christian settlers from Luzon to settle in Mindanao and claim lands through the Torrens Title, had given the settlers ownership of 24 hectares of land, and the Muslims, 12 hectares of land which they claimed were their own.

"Right here, we see the disparity," said the general. "We may not have acknowledged what we should have acknowledged, what we should have done to make Muslims part of our nation."

The general’s words seemed like music to the ears of some in the audience who perceive the military to want to get rid of the Muslims with bombs and artillery to have peace in beleaguered Mindanao. I think I’d like him to be the next chief of staff.

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And now to another type of war – which is how I would describe the state that Roman Catholic Bishop Teodoro Bacani has found himself in. As a feminist, I want to see men who take advantage of their superior position by flinging their bodies against their secretaries and clerks and other subordinates, thrown into the fires of hell. I know there are feminist groups which are taking up the cudgels for the former secretary of Bishop Bacani whom she charged of having embraced her. But I‚ve met the bishop many times, had pleasant conversations with him despite our diametrically opposite views on family planning methods, and I felt sad that 1) he would be involved in this mess, and that 2) it is possible that he would not destroy a reputation he has built over many years – 40 years or more? – because of a woman.

What proof can we have about the truth of the woman’s accusation? Do her supporters know as gospel truth that she was speaking the truth? Is it possible that she harbored ill feelings against the church prelate and that the way to get back at him would be to mistake his "friendly" gesture of putting an arm around her for a malicious act?

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My friends in the women‚s movement will disown me and call me a p.r. woman of the bishop. But let me tell the story behind this story of scandal and shame, as told by a distant relative of the bishop who will be willing to testify to the truth of her story if called to do so. Here is what this relative told me:

The secretary had been introduced to the bishop a couple of years ago by Hermie Alfonso, an active member of the Catholic church’s charismatic group called Prex. Ate Hermie, as she is called, is the eldest sister of Philip Alfonso, former dean of the Asian Institute of Management. Hermie and Philip’s mother are the brother and sister of the father of Bishop Bacani as well as the father of former Agriculture Secretary Senen Bacani.

On the other hand, Bishop Bacani‚s siblings consist of a lawyer, a doctor who is now living in the US, a sister called Lucing, and Rudy, a congressman in Manila. (My source mentions these relatives to stress the point that the Bacanis are a respectable lot.)

Hermie, who had been approached by the parents of the then 32-year-old Caroline to give her a job, asked Bishop Bacani, who was then auxiliary bishop of the Malabon diocese, he made her a clerk, then possibly because she was good at her job, made her appointments secretary at the Good Shepherd Cathedral, which was the seat of the diocese. My source said the girl found herself in a powerful position, as she was the one who would be asked if they could see the bishop. At this time, Bishop Bacani, my source said, told the girl to stop seeing her boyfriend, who was married, and employed as a secretary of another well-known bishop.

The time came when the offices of St. Peter‚s Cathedral, the seat of the Malabon diocese, and the Good Shepherd Cathedral in Novaliches were merged, Bishop Bacani, who was made full-fledged bishop, moved his office to the Good Shepherd Church on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. The merger caused the girl to lose her clout, as she was no longer the appointments secretary.

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Probably "feeling depressed," the term used by my source, the girl told a nun who was working at St. Peter’s cathedral, that Bishop Bacani had embraced her. My source wonders why the nun went directly to the Papal Nuncio, His Excellency Most Reverend Antonio Francia D.D. and told him the girl’s story. Why did not the nun confront the bishop first?

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When the bishop was called by the papal nuncio, he was made to sign a letter dictated by the papal nuncio himself, that what had happened caused the Mother Church pain. He was also made to sign another letter – a courtesy resignation which was a letter of apology as well. When Fr. Jerry Tapiador, vicar-general of St. Peter’s Cathedral tried to defend Bishop Bacani, he was told to shut up. The bishop was also told to shut up, and leave for the US.

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On the eve of his departure, parishioners, friends and relatives of Bishop Bacani were weeping over the developments. But the bishop tried to cheer them up, saying he was overwhelmed by the gesture of his visitors, and that the pain and grief he was experiencing had been reduced because he saw how people loved him. Questions asked him included why Gabriela, a huge umbrella organization of women’s groups, did not check whether the girl’s story was true.

The bishop said he didn’t know. And his parting words were: "I did not know what hit me."

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E-mail: dominimt2000@yahoo. com