What an "irreparable loss"!

There's weighty wisdom in that romantic refrain that the value of someone or something is only appreciated when that special someone or something shall have been lost. More often than not, such value or its fitting appreciation, or endearment, is just taken for granted before the loss. And that's the tragic irony.

The case of Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. is a case in point... Having been a rare gem as non-politician member of PGMA's Cabinet, with a mental facility and humility absent from the arrogant and peacockish strutters of power, his "irrevocable resignation" is an "irreparable loss" to GMA and her government. And also to the nation, more painfully to the entire AFP.

One even wondered how the affable civilian Atty. Cruz had been "wrongly" named to the DND, comprising the men and women in military uniform, despite his absence of military background or orientation. A round peg thrust into a square hole, so it appeared then.

Like many others, one expected that an astute lawyer like Cruz, co-founder with now Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio and Atty. Arthur Villaraza of the law firm that had GMA as a client since her senatorial days, would prefer the Department of Justice after his stint as Palace chief legal counsel. Right or wrong, their law firm was perceived as influential in Palace appointment-making, such that political pundits began baptizing it as "The Firm".

In hindsight now... Cruz as civvie DND boss did wonders for the then demoralized AFP with his silent reforms in his short stint. Foremost, he earned the soldiers' genuine respect upon establishing rapport with them from top to bottom. Among his worthy deeds: An overall program giving flesh and bones to the Philippine Defense Reform (PDR) aimed at military professionalism insulated from politics; launching initial modernization in armaments and equipment among the AFP's major services; depoliticizing selection of the AFP key positions, and pulling out all military bodyguards of politicians, except the president and those in the presidential line of succession; simplifying the bidding procedures to obviate corruption and to cut red tape, attuning to the Feliciano report on the heels of Oakwood Mutiny; working for a three-year term of the AFP chief of staff post, instead of frequent turnovers of command, like the game of musical chairs.

Moreover, shocked by the filthy stench in the fiscal mismanagement of the Retirement and Separation Benefits System (RSBS) on the pension fund of AFP retirees and veterans, Secretary Cruz initiated its abolition to stop further bleeding of the pension system. To insulate from corrupt managing retired top brass, Cruz began working on graft-free actuarial and pension system assuring the victimized AFP retirees recoupment of their contributions.

Such was the extent of reforms and achievements of Cruz for the AFP that even the bitter critics and opposition solons of both chambers of Congress have acknowledged them with respect. And to think that Cruz operated without fanfare, almost incognito. It's this natural flair of Cruz to stay low-key sans lawyerly bravado, that could also be his undoing. In various Palace legal maneuvers which, incidentally, turned sour, say, EO 464, PP 1017, the aborted "No-El" gambit, the failed Con-Com caper, etc., his legal voice was never heard.

But on the people's initiative for Cha-cha, the legal opinion of Cruz calling it "legally harebrained idea and constitutionally infirm", somehow leaked out. Ironically, for telling the truth as he saw fit from the standpoint of the law, the truth did not set him free... Or, it forced him to get free, in a way, when the Supreme Court slew the people's initiative in no uncertain terms and, with co-founder of "The Firm" Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, as the outspoken ponente, Cruz became the victim of a Palace "white paper" from three Cabinet members. Thus, the usually media shy Cruz came out crying foul and, a week later he did an irrevocable farewell: "I felt it was time to go". In any system or organization, no one is indispensable. That Secretary Cruz is not indispensable even to the grieving AFP, is also a given, nonetheless, it takes time to overcome the irreparable loss of his departure. Even if GMA may refuse to appreciate the value of the loss, the painful fact remains that his sudden departure could have given GMA the initial shock as jolting as the electric shock applied on a clinically dead or dying victim.

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