Baguio City, 16 Feb. 2008, Saturday, Manila Time – Philippine President Gloria Arroyo decided not to attend today’s annual Philippine Military Academy Homecoming celebration in the City of Pines. The decision was made after the intelligence community warned the president of assassination attempt on her life.
Allegedly, terrorists group from JI and the rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front are planning to kill the president so as to derail the administration’s peace effort in southern Philippines. But critics downplayed the assassination plot as another ploy to distract the public from the issue of ZTE-NBN controversy and the pervasive graft and corruption.
The Philippine Military Academy Homecoming is the yearly celebration of all men and women who graduated in the country’s and probably Asia’s premier military school. PMA was established in the American era and its organizational structure was patterned in the US Military Academy.
PGMA was an adopted class member of PMA and her presence in the hallowed ground of the Military school, as seen by her allies, is just part of her duty. The president is closely associated with a number of old PMA graduates. All of them are holding important positions in the government.
PMA graduates were also the source of many intrigues in the military service and in the government. They are like politicos who are into mammonism, a ritual of greed, avarice and malfeasance. The same as politicos, PMA graduates promised to serve the nation and protect their foot soldiers.
But nay! The foot soldiers suffer from luck of uniforms, combat shoes, combat allowance, conditioned firearms and bullets and low salary. Foot soldiers live in squatters’ area, no house of their own. Whereas, PMA graduates lives in mansions, condominiums and drive luxury cars. What a cruel and unfair world, indeed.
