An Open Letter (July 19, 2006)

To Our Fellow Countrymen and Brothers in the AFP, PNP and CAFGU

Our nation at present reflects the kind of soldiers we have become. Like the majority of the Filipino people, we, the officers and men of the AFP, PNP and CAFGU are being subjected to an oppressive and degrading life. Our meager salary cannot meet our family's basic necessities of everyday living. We cannot afford to give our children quality education. We cannot even own a decent shelter. And worse, along with the small salary that we earn, the benefits that we justly deserve for our honest service to the state are being stolen from us. Our deteriorating living condition is but a reflection of the oppression and the deplorable state the Filipino people living under the Arroyo government and the current political and economic system.

We, who should be the defenders and protectors of this beloved nation and its people are being used by the corrupt and power-hungry leaders of this government for their own interest. We are being diverted away from our principal duty of enforcing the law and maintaining peace. Many people now perceive us as defenders of corruption and deception by the highest officials who make a mockery of the very democratic process we have been sworn to defend. No wonder many consider us as enemies of our own countrymen. The Arroyo regime and its high ranking officials even ordered some of us into committing heinous crimes against the people we ought to protect.

For allowing themselves to be used by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in deceiving the people and tampering with the results of the 2004 elections under our very noses, some of our highest ranking officers now feed greedily from the hands of those in Malacañang. PGMA and her cohorts have been dishing out billions of pesos worth of bulk deals and contracts as rewards for their loyalty cutting down the funds for our operations, supplies and benefits.

We are tired of the promises of increase in salary and pension, fed up with the scandals involving the military in the 2004 election fraud, and sick with the looting of funds, contracts and the soldier's savings in the AFP and PNP by our own generals. We are outraged by the immoral and unjust promotions and designations of the "favorite" officers and relatives of those high ranking officials. What is even more loathsome is the involvement and the protection given by Malacañang and their favorite generals to the criminal syndicates of illegal gambling, illegal drugs, bank robbery, kidnapping, illegal logging, smuggling, carnapping and other crimes.

We attest to the direct responsibility of the President and the leading agencies of Malacañang and their minions in the AFP and the PNP in ordering the extrajudicial killings to decimate the ranks of progressive mass leaders, activists, media critics, opposition leaders and professionals who are actively calling for her ouster. They are also responsible for the surveillance and harassment of those in the opposition, violent dispersal of peaceful rallies and demonstrations and the imprisonment of their leaders. We have come to know all these because the officers and men who were ordered to commit these crimes are from our own ranks.

The leaders and activists that our officers are ordering us to kidnap, torture and murder are legitimately airing their grievances. The victims of these heinous crimes are well-meaning unarmed civilians: workers, farmers, priests, teachers, lawyers, journalists and others who are fighting and defending their rights and even our own interests. They are not armed rebels. But why are we ordered by our officers to aim and fire our guns at them?

We, the men of the AFP and the PNP are being ordered to guard the gates of power where corrupt officials reside. We are the last line of defense of Malacañang. We are being used as shield against the legitimate actions and demands of our people. We are the power sustaining the Arroyo government so she could continue her fake, rotten, deceitful and oppressive rule.

Many of us have already started their active stand against the Arroyo regime. Since 2003, many groups have surfaced and courageously fought and protested against this corrupt government. They have sided with us and our people. They have spoken and took actions against the unjust orders. Yet, for taking into their hearts their oath of service and the interest of the people, they are being persecuted, imprisoned, deprived of their rights, and are treated like animals.

Let us resist the orders of our superiors to use us in their war against our people. Let us support the call for genuine peace and justice and open our doors for talks and negotiations with the groups taking up arms against this oppressive government. Let us work for a genuine and lasting peace..

We call upon all the patriotic men and women from the AFP and the PNP from all over the country to stand up and be counted. It is about time that we end our silence. Let us help in exposing the corruption and crimes committed in the highest levels of our organizations. Let us join ranks with the different patriotic movement within the AFP and PNP, organize clandestine networks, and unite with the people. Together, let us fight alongside the different patriotic and progressive organizations and individuals for a truly sovereign, democratic, peaceful, and prosperous nation. It is our only way of regaining our dignity.

It is the only way that the AFP and PNP could be truly reformed. It is the only way that the AFP and PNP could really perform its mandated task to serve the nation and its people.
The solution to our problems and that of the whole nation is, and will remain unattainable under the Arroyo government and the rotten system it represents. Let us unite with the majority of the Filipino people in ousting the Arroyo government in order to attain liberty, democracy and prosperity! Let us fight for our rights and those of our fellow officers and soldiers! Let us unite and fight for the interest of our people! mStand against the anti-people orders! Oust the illegitimate, corrupt, oppressive and rotten Arroyo government!

Tirad Pass Brigade
(A democratic movement of concerned officers and soldiers)