The political education of General Jose Almonte
We admit being intimidated on our first encounter with the man. After all, this is the man who saw action in Vietnam, and in his latter years, either masterminded or helped in executing the break-up of decades-old monopolies in various industries.
Retired General Jose Almonte served in the military with distinction. A graduate of the Philippine Military Academy in 1956, he won the Distinguished Conduct Star for gallantry with the Philippine military contingent in Vietnam from 1966-69. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil-Military Relations, with the rank of Brigadier General.
Immediately after retiring from the AFP in 1986, Almonte was appointed by then President Corazon Aquino as Commissioner of the now-defunct Economic Intelligence and Investigation Bureau of the Department of Finance. He held this position until 1992. Upon the election of President Fidel Ramos that year, he tapped Almonte as National Security Adviser and Director-General of the National Security Council.
In his book, "We Must Level the Playing Field," Almonte narrated his first brush with politics. “Now and then, a patrol would bring a Huk’s body, slung on a bamboo pole like a deer. We, too, suffered the occasional casualty; but by then the insurgency had died down enough for (then) Captain (Fidel) Ramos and me, sitting together in the slanting sunlight of the hill that afternoon, to ask ourselves why we are killing our own people. Only gradually – perhaps because soldiers are not supposed to reason why – and much later – when the 1986 People Power Revolution set us free from our political innocence – did we come to realize how we as a people have been divided into two nations – and become a country at war with itself.”
THE LOBBYiST (TL): How do you assess the current situation of the Philippines?
Jose Almonte (JA): I wish there are reforms in the Philippine economy so it could be an efficient wealth creator. But outside the Ramos government, nobody tried to level the playing field by destroying monopolies, and revitalizing institutions. No serious reform was done after that or even before Ramos. So, we are very inefficient in so far as producing wealth is concern. So you look at an economy threatened by recession. The US, European, and Japanese economies are already suffering from recession. These are the countries that provide the markets for our products. They are the sources of our income. Now, they themselves are suffering.
What I am saying is that unless we do something, we cannot expect to be in an easy position for years to come.
TL: What are the things that we should do?
JA: You know the root of the economic problem is political. Political reform is really a vital organ because of the impact on the economy, and the impact and all organs are aspects of our national life. And your question is what shall we do?
There are many things to do. In America, after eight years of Bush, America looks like the Philippines; it needs a leader to renew America, to transform America. And that is why (Barack) Obama was elected President. He was elected by the "everyday people" of America. What am I trying to say is that America is like a very good car like a Ferrari; what you need is a very good driver. In the Philippines, we are still in the process of constructing that car. We are in the process of building our initiative as a nation. If you do not know who you are as a Filipino, how will you be able to define what you want to be? Can you? You cannot, right? If you could not even define what you want to be, how can you be able to move where you are right now to somewhere where there is a better future? Can you? That is our problem.
TL: Do you think that with the remaining term of the Arroyo administration, it can still do something for the country?
JA: It failed to do anything significant for the country for the last eight years. And they are expecting it do something in less than two years?
TL: There are declared Presidential candidates for 2010. Do you think any of them will be able to turn this country around?
JA: In this country, reforms can only happen if the President is committed to reforms. If the President is not committed, nothing can happen. That is number one. Number two, the present political arrangement in the Philippines – you may call it the Filipino Political System or the Filipino Democratic System – that system has no capacity at all to produce a reform-minded president.
TL: Do you mean that by 2010 the next President will still do the same as what has been done before?
JA: According to my logic, he or she will do just the same as the others. However, there could be an exemption. That is what I am praying for because I believe the Filipino political system is incapable of producing a good president. However, if our president elected through the present system turns out to be very good, then I will be on my knees thanking the Lord because that will be a miracle.
TL: So far, among the declared candidates, you are not seeing this possibility?
JA: The personalities are irrelevant. Why? Because this will be the same system that one of them will inherit when he or she becomes president. You know, our politics is defined by patronage. If you look at the patronage of this country, it’s horrible. The patron-client relationship exists everywhere, from the lowest to the highest rung in society. It is terrible. Now, in our election, who elects the president it is the class I would say (economic class) C-D-E; class A-B is very small, right? Now, C-D-E are the poor people. And why are they poor? Because the system makes them poor. The system does not give them the opportunity to use their talent to create wealth. Their nutrition, their health, their education are all jeopardized because of corruption. And corruption is what makes patronage alive.
Now, this is not merely the corruption of the policeman on the streets. No, it is in the highest level in Malacañang. Now I am not saying that they are all true. I am not saying that they are also not true, but I think people will say that when there is smoke, there is fire. The Filipino people must understand these problems because if they do not totally understand, the elites who send their children to the best schools, they are the only ones who know how to read the situation. If you were very intelligent, and you do not use that intelligence for the nation but only to serve your family, to serve your private interest, then your education is good only for you, not for the people, and not for the nation.
TL: Do you think the time is right for a revolution?
JA: We’re the only country in the world with an active communist revolution. They haven’t won and I don’t think they can win. Why? Because the communist revolution has deteriorated to a point where the revolutionaries have run a course different from what it should be.
But no nation is destroyed by a revolution. Our nation is destroyed only if it can no longer make revolutions.
TL: Do you think, with the things happening right now, Mrs. Arroyo will finish her term?
JA: It’s irrelevant. It’s irrelevant if she will finish her term or not. As far as I am concerned, it has nothing to do with what I believe is best for the nation.
TL: Would it be better if assuming for the sake of the argument, in order for the reforms to push through we remove the stumbling block?
JA: That is a political problem that cannot be answered in that simple way. Politics does not operate that way. Mrs. Arroyo is a stumbling block to some, but to others she may not be. Now, who defines why Mrs. Arroyo is there? It is not because of you or me. The proper political question is not whether I should tell you we should rule her out. It is how the people should decide what is best for the nation. If it’s for the best of the nation to remove her, this should be decided by the people themselves, not you and me.
TL: You are known to have masterminded the first Charter change attempt under President Fidel Ramos. Right now there are efforts to again change the Constitution. How do you differentiate this kind of Charter change?
JA: It is different because the motive is different. Our motive then is just to allow a good person who is president to run again and be elected for another term.
TL: If you are Mrs. Arroyo’s National Security Adviser, what kind of advice will you give her?
JA: An adviser is an adviser. What is important is the character and attitude of the president being given advice. If there is no meeting of the minds, there is no common ground, and then it’s not good for an adviser to say anything. For me, the adviser will only be effective if the superior is supposed to provide a task for him, share common values, core values, common vision, a common commitment to that vision.
TL: When we elect the next president in 2010, and he or she asks for your advice, what kind of advice will you give him or her?
JA: I am an old man; I don’t want to impose myself.
TL: You have been a very controversial person. Do you have any regret on things you did and didn’t do, and advice you did and didn’t give?
JA: I have no regrets at all. In fact if I were given the same opportunity, I will do the same. I didn’t want to be controversial, but I have a task to do. So when we saw that it was to the nation’s interest that we breakdown the PLDT monopoly, we did it even if it hurt my friend Tony Boy Cojuangco. As I said, I have no regrets for what I have done before as National Security Adviser because the basic need of the nation is to put continuity. In that respect, we had to dismantle the monopolies to give opportunities to the masses. And dismantling the monopolies will hurt the people on top. That’s why I became controversial. They unleashed their dogs to the media against me. I can’t blame them for that; somebody has to do my job.
TL: As a former National Security Adviser, how would you characterize the evolution of national security?
JA: In the past, when we talk about national security, we talk about territory and sovereignty. During the Marcos time, the concept was expanded to include political, economic, social, and even moral, spiritual, cultural aspects, and of course, external environment. Japan can be credited by proposing during the early 90s to include the human security concept, which includes poverty, AIDS and crimes as national security issues. So national security now involves more aspects of human enterprise that is related to sustainability of life in this planet. Climate change is also now an issue of national security.
As a previous National Security Adviser, I comment on everything except on national security issues because I don’t want to comment on the work of those who came after me. Baka sabihin naman ng mga kaibigan ko nagmamagaling na naman ako (They might say that I’m encroaching on their space).
TL: Do you think we will see our country rising from where are we right now during our lifetime?
JA: I hope so; I’m so optimistic. The Filipino people are gifted people. We are God-fearing and God-loving people.
TL: What’s a normal day for you?
JA: Everyday is normal for me because I’m a normal person. And a man is entitled to his secrets, as you are entitled to. I’m entitled to my privacy, so let’s just leave it at that.
TL: I can see you have so many books here in your small library.
JA: You know the books that you see here will tell you how generous the Filipinos are. They were all given to me when I was National Security Adviser. When the nation faces a problem, I received books with some notes: “General, look at this. How may I help you?” Many people who are attacking me, I’ve told them, “I’m sorry you will not win because I have so many supporters.” (Laughs) That’s how good the Filipinos are; they know the people who are really sincere in helping the country.
TL: What is your opinion on the observation that one of the things that contribute to our government’s problem right now is the so-called "mistah" culture?
JA: I think there is really a very fundamental misunderstanding about this thing. Should we attribute incidents of corruption to a thread of brotherhood? The word "mistah" came from West Point, and we adopted it in the Philippine Military Academy. It is an expression used to call classmates. We are classmates, mistah. You are in a military academy for four years. You were just a kid, and you share one big barracks with a group. You develop bonds that become, as they say, more than brothers. This bond is important when you’re out in the field fighting together. In the Academy, we call each other "mistah"; we call each other "cavalier" when you graduate from the Academy. It’s the same with lawyers calling each other "pañero". We have lawyers, and some commit crimes and unethical behavior. But you don’t blame other pañeros for that, the whole bar system, or the legal profession itself, do you?
TL: How come you never entered public office after serving President Ramos?
JA: I’m old already.
TL: Did you try in your younger days?
JA: In politics, what I did was revolutionary politics. I joined the 1986 revolution, and that was revolutionary politics. I never engaged in electoral politics, only in revolutionary politics.
TL: You never contemplated entering electoral politics?
JA: No, because I was already fulfilled with what I did and continue doing.
TL: Do you know if the elite, the oligarchs, know something that the rest of us don’t know, that’s why they are brazenly violating and trampling down on the poor and helpless?
JA: Of course not. But they do it because we allow them to do it to us. I have talked to so many activists, and I tell them, “Study, hindi lang sigaw nang sigaw (don’t just engage in sloganeering).”
Alam mo noong mga bata pa kami, ako tenyente at si Ramos kapitan, magagaling kaming mga sundalo [You know when we were still young, I was a lieutenant, and (President Fidel) Ramos was captain, we were very good soldiers]. Na-train kami kung paano pumatay ng tao, at magaling kami dyan [We were trained to kill people, and we were good at what we do]. In the mountains, we were kings of the jungle. If anybody there except our cavaliers has a gun, we shoot him or her. Ang tanong namin sa sarili namin [Our question to ourselves was], “Why are we hunting and killing our own people? We are trained by the Filipino people to become soldiers, only to end up killing our people. I don’t understand.”
TL: So that’s the start of your political involvement?
JA: Well, that’s in my book, "We Must Level the Playing Field". I was asking, “Why are we killing our people?” So we stop killing our people, let us level the playing field so that everybody will have the opportunity to be able to use their talents, to attain their personal goals in life. We asked the question in 1956, and we tried to answer it between 1992 and 1998, pagkatapos gusto kong palawakin pa ang sagot natin. Pero ang sabi nila (anti-Cha Cha advocates), tama na kayo (We wanted to spread the answer by extending the Ramos term, but anti-Charter change activists told us that our term is finished)!
TL: Do you have any kind of prediction for 2009?
JA: The scenario I can tell you is based on what happened this year, the economy will remain bad for most of our industries.
TL: How do you want people to remember you by?
JA: Bahala sila [It’s up to them] on how I should be remembered. But you know if these things (how I want to be remembered) concern me, I cannot do anything because I will be thinking of what Mr. X or Mrs. Y will say. I am a soldier; it is simpler for me. Ano ba ang mabuti para sa bansa? Ano ba ang sinabi ng Diyos? Yan lang ang guide ko para sa bansa. Kung sino yung mga naapakan, sorry na lang sila [What’s good for the country? What does God say? Those are my only guide on how to act for the country. If I step on other people’s toes, sorry but I have to do my job]. But to the credit of these people whom I locked horns with, karamihan sa kanila mga naging kaibigan ko [most of them became my friends eventually].
Interview by Jayson Edward B. San Juan Photographs taken by Leluck del Rosario
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