NEWSMAKER-Former Philippine military chief switches to peace

NEWSMAKER-Former Philippine military chief switches to peace
16 Jun 2008 09:59:57 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Manny Mogato

MANILA, June 16 (Reuters) – Hermogenes Esperon, the recently retired head of the Philippine armed forces, has a new mission; to engage his former foes in talks rather than battle.

The four-star general took over as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s peace adviser on Monday amid a torrent of criticism about his ability to make peace with communist rebels and Muslim insurgents after more than three decades fighting them.

But Esperon, 56, shrugged off the disapproval in typically relaxed fashion, pointing out that he was not the first member of the military to be appointed to the position.

“I understand there have been some critics, unbelievers that a soldier could be indeed a man of peace,” said the father of seven, who retired as military chief last month.

“Peace is nothing new to us soldiers. We have known the taste and flavour of peace. In our experience, the taste and flavour of peace is far superior to the flavour of war.”

Eduardo Ermita, a former general and currently Arroyo’s executive secretary, was peace adviser in 2001-2002 and Manuel Yan, a former head of the armed forces, was also peace adviser during the administration of President Fidel Ramos in the 1990s.

After swearing to destroy the communist New People’s Army (NPA) by the end of Arroyo’s term in 2010, Esperon now says he wants to reopen peace talks with their political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF).

Negotiations with the NDF broke off in August 2004 after Manila refused to ask the European Union and the United States to remove the NDF from their list of terror groups.

WARRIOR

Leftwing organisations have slammed Esperon’s appointment, pointing out that on his watch scores of leftist activists were murdered in what many view as a “dirty war” against the Left.

The United Nations has said the military was responsible for many of the killings.

“His record as military chief shows nothing that qualifies him as a peace adviser,” said Beverly Musni, a lawyer and leader of a peace advocate group on the southern island of Mindanao.

“The people remember it was Esperon who vowed to crush the insurgency by 2010. As a military man, he has relentlessly pursued war as a solution to the country’s armed conflict.”

The 5,000-strong NPA has been engaging the army in tit-for-tat attacks across the country for nearly 40 years, feeding off widening inequality between the mass poor and a small rich class.

In the south, the Philippines is trying to agree a peace deal with the largest Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which wants some measure of self-rule from the largely Catholic government in Manila.

Esperon, a keen badminton player and gardener, says he wants a deal with the MILF in less than a year despite peace talks being stalled since late December over constitutional issues.

As a brigade commander in the southern province of Cotabato during a six-month outbreak of hostilities, Esperon fought the MILF head on.

“As a person, we find nothing wrong with him. We respected him as a warrior on the battlefield,” said Mohaqher Iqbal, the MILF’s chief peace negotiator.

“Our main concern is government policy, because the talks would not move forward whoever sits there unless the government shows sincerity in dealing with us.” (Reporting by Manny Mogato; editing by Carmel Crimmins and Roger Crabb) (manuel.mogato@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: manuel.mogato.reuters.com@reuters.net; +632 841 8913))