More accomplishments, more intrigues. Less accomplishments, less intrigues. NO ACCOMPLISHMENTS, NO INTRIGUES
* 500+ bills filed, 6 passed into law.
* DND Sec: reorganized AFP to curb corruption by introducing civilians into the military hierarchy to handle non-military positions (esp. finance) and eliminated 70% of the corruption in the AFP.
* Lobbied for the increase of the pay of soldiers and increased the size of the armed forces.
* Maj. Gen. Garcia was prosecuted and convicted by the Military Court during his term.
Moment of Glory/15 minutes of fame - led the impeachment of then Chief Justice Hilario Davide for the misuse of the Judiciary Development Fund.
---------------------------------------------
1. he continued the good programs of Avelino Cruz, his predecessor who crossed to the opposition, without minding the political affiliation of the "owner" of the initiative. among these are the introduction of non-military personnel in non-military functions in the AFP, like finance and logistics, the provision of greater benefits to the members of the armed forces, the greater involvement of the military in civil operations to win the sympathy of the population and prevent the people from sympathizing with rebels.
this is one important trait of a leader because in philippine politics, politicians always try to destroy the legacy of their predecessor to establish their "own legacy" with a view to having a "visible track record". you see this in legislations changing names of the streets and the routinary blaming of the "faults of the predecessor" to justify his failure.
2. he did not involve the military in politics, as mentioned above.
3. he discontinued the "dirty tricks". the sharp decline in the number of reported extra-judicial killings and disappearances in the past 2 years is proof of this. so sharp was the decline that leftists had to feign a celebrated case (re: melissa roxas) just to demonstrate a point that it's still continuing.
4. he respected our treaty obligations, esp. with the int'l committee of the red cross, by not compelling the red cross coordinate with the military ( red cross charter prohibits so to maintain neutrality) even if this may pose problems to military operations. a lot may disagree with him on this but in this, he took the legal recourse which is to respect the neutrality of the ICRC and observe the obligation of the philippines to respect ICRC's neutrality.
5. i've never heard him speak on any political issue between the admin and the opposition, from scandals to policy differences, fully aware of his role as the head of the DND that he should serve as an example of being apolitical in all these issues. He did not belong to any political party during his tenure (until he announced his political intentions last month), which is a good example of how the DND Sec. should be.
----------------------------------------------------
marami pa... marami ng nakasulat dito ngayon ko lang nalaman... kasi nga tahimik siya... kaya wala kayong naririnig sa kanya...
