EDITORIAL - The new chief

As most quarters had speculated for several months, President Arroyo appointed her former chief presidential guard, Army commander Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit, to the highest post in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Bangit’s appointment was announced two days before the mandatory retirement of Gen. Victor Ibrado as AFP chief of staff. By yet another event that the President must consider fortuitous, Ibrado is stepping down on the eve of the 60-day election ban on presidential appointments.

The president and commander-in-chief has the prerogative to pick the military chief of staff. It is only to be expected that presidential trust in the new AFP chief will be a paramount consideration, especially in this land of coup attempts and mutinies. Bangit meets this requirement perfectly. Critics say he is President Arroyo’s Fabian Ver, whose only question, if ordered by his boss to jump out the window, is from which floor.

Bangit may find the comparison unfair. Fellow officers, including several who are his seniors, describe him as a competent soldier. Still, his appointment reinforces perceptions that as President Arroyo winds down her affairs, she is busy not with leaving some worthy legacy but repaying loyalty.

The worst fear about Bangit is that he has been installed as part of an administration plan to rig the elections. In public, Ibrado has said the fear is unfounded. But AFP officers were implicated in the vote-rigging scandal that marred the 2004 presidential race, and people have reason to be apprehensive. Over the years there have been serious efforts to depoliticize the AFP. Bangit’s appointment is considered by critics as a step backward, but he can prove them wrong. The coming months will show if he is a professional soldier and a better Filipino than critics think, loyal to the country and the flag instead of the appointing power.