ZAMBOANGA CITY, 24 September 2003 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday appointed her chief adviser on the peace process with Muslim separatist and communist rebels as the new defense chief.
Eduardo Ermita, 68, a former general and psychological warfare expert, replaced Angelo Reyes, who resigned last month following a failed military mutiny on July 27 by about 300 officers demanding reforms in the military.
Arroyo’s spokesman Ignacio Bunye announced the new appointment in Manila as the president visited the Zamboanga Peninsula in the southern Philippines, ywhere security forces are hunting down an escaped Jemaah Islamiya bomb-maker Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi.
Ermita also served as a congressman and undersecretary of defense. More recently, he was in charge of the government’s peace initiatives with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Communist Party of the Philippines.
The mutinous military personnel who briefly took over an upscale Manila apartment building and shopping center in July accused Reyes of corruption and masterminding a deadly bombing in the southern Philippines earlier this year to win more US anti-terrorism funding. Reyes has denied the allegations.
Described by presidential chief of staff Rigoberto Tiglao as “a team player and non-confrontational,” Ermita faces the challenge of achieving Arroyo’s goals of improving delivery of equipment to the front lines, stamp out graft and develop better combat strategies.
With government funds in short supply and an election due by May 2004, his task will be that much tougher.
Ermita, 68, was not available to comment on his new post as he was in New York as part of an advance party preparing for Arroyo’s arrival for a meeting of the UN General Assembly.
In Zamboanga, President Arroyo made it clear that while the hunt for escaped Indonesian militant Al-Ghozi will continue, the peace talks with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is her priority.
“The hunt for Al-Ghozi will continue on the sidelines of our advancing peace and development initiatives in Mindanao,” Arroyo told soldiers from an infantry battalion in the town of Tungawan, Zamboanga Sibugay province.
Maj. Gen. Trifonio Salazar, the Western Mindanao military chief, briefed the president of the progress of the hunt, which has yet to yield any positive result.
Arroyo handed over assorted medicines and groceries to soldiers and medals to five soldiers, who fought fiercely with Abu Sayyaf rebels in Jolo island early year.
Al-Ghozi embarrassed Arroyo’s government by fleeing a Manila jail in July, but her comments reflected concerns that the heavy presence of troops searching for him may provoke skirmishes and break a cease-fire with the MILF that has held since August.
Formal negotiations to end the three-decade conflict, which has killed at least 120,000 people, are expected to begin next month under the auspices of neighboring Malaysia.
Arroyo said on Monday she will discuss the peace process with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in New York this week.
