Bayan says AFP giving whistleblowers ‘Acsa treatment’

What a way for the Arroyo regime to keep alive the memory of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Reynaldo Wycoco, who died in December last year. The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Monday said Arroyo’s boys continue to give the “Acsa treatment" to whistleblowers who expose graft in their respective agencies. “Whistleblowers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are very rare, given the very strict and rigid nature of the organization. (Whistleblowers) must be given enough leeway to air his grievances without fear of being harassed or detained by the AFP," said Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. On the other hand, Reyes said moves by the AFP leadership to silence whistleblowers will send a negative signal to the troops, many of whom are already disgruntled. He said this forms the core of a “rotten leadership," which in turn triggers incessant rumors of a coup against the present regime. “This form of political repression, done under the guise of the concept of chain of command, will only ignite resentment of the AFP top brass and the commander-in-chief. The moves against Daquil, Gudani, Balutan and others will only arouse unrest within the AFP," he said. Wycoco, who succumbed to a stroke in December last year, was remembered for the “Acsa Ramirez" incident in August 2002, when he presented Ramirez to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a suspect. It turned out, however, that Ramirez, a ranking branch official of the Land Bank of the Philippines, was the whistleblower in a multimillion-peso tax diversion scam. The Ramirez incident raged on for several months with Wycoco and Arroyo refusing to apologize to Ramirez, until the courts eventually rejected the filing of charges against Ramirez. Earlier, Reyes assailed the military for giving Philippine Air Force (PAF) Col. Efren Daquil the “Acsa treatment" by punishing him for blowing the whistle on irregularities in the Air Force. Daquil had approached the media to expose questionable expenses by the Air Force, which promptly subjected him to court martial proceedings. “Why is it that Daquil is being treated as if he was the one who committed the crime? He is the whistleblower. He has exposed corruption within the PAF. He has pinpointed the recipients of illegal allowances. Why is he the one being subjected to court martial proceedings?" Reyes said. Reyes added the treatment was also extended to retired Gen. Franciso Gudani, when he surfaced last year to confirm cheating in the 2004 presidential elections. He said the least that the AFP leadership could do is provide Daquil with protection and a venue to air his grievances, instead of harassing him with a court martial. Also, he said the PAF’s commanding general should have been investigated because of the serious allegations made by Daquil.-GMANEWS.TV