EDITORIAL - Reversing reforms

Back in 2006, with midterm elections approaching, the Department of National Defense under Avelino Cruz forged an agreement with the Commission on Elections to insulate the Armed Forces of the Philippines from politics. Under the agreement, AFP members were pulled out as bodyguards of politicians. The Comelec could deputize military personnel only in cases of “serious armed threats to the electoral process” that could not be addressed by the Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies.

The agreement was forged in the shadow of accusations that AFP officers played a role in the vote-rigging scandal involving former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the 2004 presidential race. The agreement barred AFP members from any partisan political activity, except to vote, on pain of relief from duty and possible prosecution by a military court. AFP members were barred from entering a polling place except to vote, or entering a place where election returns were being canvassed. Also prohibited were the use of all AFP equipment for partisan political activity, and the transfer of canvassing proceedings to military camps or facilities.

Now those reforms could be reversed if the Comelec does not study carefully its resolution to tap the AFP once again for bodyguard duty in the 2010 elections. The resolution was passed amid the government’s avowed effort to dismantle politicians’ private armies, mostly consisting of militiamen. Acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales, a politician with dangerous ideas who likes to paint a scenario of a failure of elections, is eager to finalize the rules with the Comelec. The massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao, attributed to the Ampatuan clan and their private army, prompted the move.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo should study the plan closely before committing himself to the return of a politicized AFP. With an election gun ban in force and private armies supposedly disbanded, politicians still have the organization that is tasked to ensure public safety: the PNP. The 2006 agreement still allows the Comelec to deputize the AFP, but only when the PNP fails to carry out its task. The seeds of a depoliticized, professional AFP are just starting to take root. The Comelec should not be a party to the reversal of hard-won reforms.