Chief spook speaks up
In fact, Esperon disclosed, they have detected ‘funds moving.’ Esperon stopped to say ‘who’ and ‘where’ the funds are going, except that they know the ‘why.’
National Security Adviser ( NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. spoke for the first time since President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of lawless violence in Mindanao last Sept. 3.
Breaking his self- imposed silence – as required most of the time by his job as the government’s chief spook – Esperon confirmed intelligence authorities are following leads the Davao blast may be part of a much bigger plot than a mere act of terrorism.
Without getting into details, Esperon assuaged the public that government agencies tasked to protect the country from the enemies of the state are doing their best to head off terror attempts. He disclosed that the Davao blast that killed 15 people and injured 100 others have some shades of destabilization plot against the Duterte administration.
As national security adviser, Esperon has under his command the resources and personnel of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency. The NICA has interagency support from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Immigration among other law enforcement arms.
Himself a retired AFP chief of staff, Esperon speaks from his experience since he entered as a cadet at the Philippine Military Academy. He graduated from PMA in 1974, or two years after the late president Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. Citing lawless violence across the country, Marcos imposed martial law through Proclamation 1081 on Sept. 21, 1972.
This sad chapter in our country’s history marked its 44th anniversary on Wednesday and coincided with our weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay at Café Adriatico in Malate, Manila where we had Esperon as featured guest.
Esperon doused cold waters to concerns on the possible return of martial rule in our country.
Martial law fears arouse from pronouncements of Esperon’s fellow Cabinet official who espoused “constitutional authoritarianism” for President Duterte. Aside from the declaration of a state of emergency that empowers President Duterte to call the AFP to help the PNP quell lawless violence, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo floated the idea of giving the commander- in- chief expanded powers under a “constitutional dictatorship” to give him powers over the executive and legislative branches to speed up reforms.
“He (President Duterte) will not go for it,” Esperon said.
Smarting from the decision of President Duterte to allow the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, foes and critics now accuse him of laying the groundwork for martial law in the country. The Supreme Court, however, has issued a temporary injunction against the burial of Marcos pending resolution of the petitions filed before it.
Esperon could not be pinned down to reveal if they suspect the destabilization plots come from rival political camps. President Duterte earlier pointed to the Liberal Party (LP), the erstwhile party in power, to be plotting to impeach him.
President Duterte admitted having sensed obvious slanted reports here and abroad linking him to alleged extrajudicial killings in the ongoing police operations against illegal drugs.
A few days earlier, no less than Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar bared to Malacañang reporters about supposed ouster plots against President Duterte. The anti-Duterte group allegedly wants him out of Malacañang by January 2017.
Andanar said a Cabinet member learned of the supposed plot while on official trip in the United States. The Cabinet official said unnamed Filipino-Americans based there were purportedly hatching the ouster plot. Andanar refused to name the Cabinet official. Currently on official trip in New York are presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella and Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr.
Esperon declined to elaborate on this alleged ouster plot. He is willing to bet big-time though that narco syndicates are funding the campaign to oust President Duterte in retaliation to his administration’s all out war against illegal drugs.
In fact, Esperon disclosed, they have detected “funds moving.” Esperon stopped to say “who” and “where” the funds are going, except that they know the “why.”
Esperon gave assurance that President Duterte is not a power-hungry leader contrary to fears foisted by his bitter critics and arch political enemies. He said President Duterte has been in the forefront of the campaign for a shift to a federal form of government that would subdivide the country into federal states since he was Davao City mayor. So how can someone who would lose so much jurisdiction over federal states be a power-hungry dictator, Esperon argued.
As a lawyer and prosecutor for so many years, Esperon said President Duterte knows the limits of the laws. Esperon further averred to President Duterte’s strict adherence to the 1987 Constitution to carry out what needs to be done for the country during his watch.
“So do we call him a constitutional dictator, or do we call him a forceful law enforcer, enforcer of the laws of the land, enforcer against criminality, enforcer against illegal drugs, enforcer against corruption, enforcer for good governance?” Esperon asked, adding: “Be the judge.”
The former Davao City mayor is better known as “the punisher.” Nonetheless, Esperon said President Duterte won 16 million votes on a campaign promise to suppress illegal drugs and corruption.
This is why Esperon said he is very confident no destabilization plot will prosper while President Duterte enjoys the trust and support of 91 percent of Filipinos based on the latest surveys on his first 50 days in office.
Esperon admitted the country’s narco problem is so pervasive and is one of the immediate threats to national security. With an estimated 3.7 million Filipinos as drug addicts, he too, is worried.
Speaking as chief spook, Esperon vows to help President Duterte stamp out the narco menace in our country before it’s too late.