Article & Journal Resources

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS

Tomorrow, when the Commission on Appointments Defense Committee meets, on the agenda is the promotion of Col. Jonathan Martir to brigadier general.


Tomorrow, when the Commission on Appointments Defense Committee meets, on the agenda is the promotion of Col. Jonathan Martir to brigadier general.

Friday last week, Malaya's editorial, "Toadies crawling out of the woodwork" was about Gloria Arroyo's lapdogs in frenzied competition proving what they can do to be promoted to chief tuta. That's why we have NCR police chief Geary Barias proudly bragging to reporters how he manhandled Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and other Magdalo officers after the Manila Peninsula standoff.

And of course, Martir didn't want to be left behind. Malaya's editorial said, "Martir pulled a macho stunt at the Pen. He manhandled Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and some members of the Magdalo group while they were lying face down on the floor with their hands cuffed. Asked by a member of the CA from the House why he did so, Martir answered that Trillanes and his companions "deserved it."

Who is this Martir? He is known in the military to be very close to AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon.

Sources in the military don't paint a respectable picture of him. I have been provided documents that he was AWOL (absence without leave) for more than two years and yet when he came back from the United States, he was neither reprimanded nor punished for it.

Available records in the Philippine Navy and the Bureau of Immigration show that his authorized leave number only 195 days. But he was absent from service for 945 days.

A brief on Martir that we got says, "Records bear that Col. Martir left the country on five separate occasions, in 1994, in 1997, in 1998, in 2002 and in 2003, all without the necessary travel orders required by law for military personnel and in violation of the Articles of War ( A.W. 62).

"On four separate occasions, he had exceeded his authorized leave – most significant of which was when he exceeded his leave by more than a year or 477 days to be precise, and, yet, the Corps never, in any of the cases,mentioned declared him AWOL or dropped him from the rolls as deserter, much less, have him investigated on his unauthorized absences."

From comments in my blog of people who know him, one can have an idea of Martir's character:

Juggernaut, who had interacted with Martir when the latter was a tactical officer, said: "He mostly kept to himself, a very mysterious character. One thing you can't miss is the way he strikes a pose in uniform in public, almost contrived or choreographed (he still does, funny, old habits never die). The battalion he handled probably had the most gruesome "hazing" cases at the time.

On his manhandling of Trillanes and other Magdalo officers, an officer texted me, "Not surprising, for a wife beater."

Another Marines officer said, "Let him be assigned to Mindanao. Iiyak yan. He is known to shoot only at target papers. Takot yan sa kalaban who could shoot back at him also. Behind his back, he is the butt of jokes among Marines."

Another related an incident when Martir had a tiff with another officer from Iloilo. A third officer was trying to appease them but Martir would not be contained. He was really raring for a fight. So the peacemaker left. Left alone to fight the Ilonggo officer, Martir ran away.

One of the detained officers in Camp Capinpin told me that Martir talked to him and offered him a deal in connection with the mutiny case related to the February 2006 alleged plan to withdraw support from the bogus Arroyo presidency. The deal was: Pin down Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Col. Ariel Querubin and the other top Marines officers and I'll dismiss the case against you. The officer declined. He told Martir, "Only rats do that. I'm an officer."

Many I talked with mentioned about Martir's "dark streaks." Maybe some of those might be raised during his confirmation hearing. He will have a chance to deny or clarify them tomorrow.

***

Trixie Angeles, lawyer of Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, who is the object of a military manhunt after the Nov. 29 incident, is confused about the conflicting statements of Gloria Arroyo and Esperon.

Angeles said, "Esperon says that Capt. Nicanor Faeldon and other allegedly fugitive members of the November 29 group are not threats.

"Yet, Mrs. Arroyo has been cited as saying (in her Cabinet teleconference from London) that for as long as there are fugitives from the Manila Pen incident, they remain threats to her leadership and the public safety. Malacañang has approved a P1 million peso reward for information leading to his capture. A joint task force has been created with the AFP and PNP joining forces. The Coast Guard has been called in and SouthCom is on the alert for him. It's a manhunt and the net is spreading wide."

Angeles said this only indicates that "clearly someone is feeling threatened.

"Perhaps it would be appropriate to call Mr. Esperon to this one fact: Capt. Nicanor Faeldon is no hardened criminal. He is not a murderer nor a rapist nor a kidnapper. Unlike others with bounties on their heads, Capt. Faeldon's alleged crime is to dissent from this government's continuing illegitimacy and rampant corruption.

"Yet Malacanang still holds out that one million peso reward. Could it be that they — Mr. Esperon, Mrs. Arroyo, Mr. Razon, et al — believe that telling the truth in times like these, is a dangerously subversive act?"