Not too late to do a Robredo

President Noynoy should read between the lines: If something happens to retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan in detention, he would be held responsible by the military.

Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff, said the military is not abandoning Palparan.

The former commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division has complained that his former organization has left him to fend for himself.

Catapang’s statement of support for Palparan seems to be in defiance of his Commander-in-Chief who put Palparan on the country’s “most wanted persons” list.

Catapang was apparently voicing the general sentiments within the military that Palparan was not a “butcher” as he was only doing his job.

“The alleged crime (the 2006 kidnapping of two University of the Philippines students) happened when he was in the active service, and he’s innocent until proven otherwise,” said the AFP chief.

The President has ruffled some feathers within the AFP when he implicitly referred to Palparan as a “butcher,” a tag the militants have given the retired general.

“Why is he adopting the line of the enemies of the state by branding Palparan a butcher when he was only doing his job?” said a young military officer.

Perhaps the President doesn’t know how popular Palparan is among his comrades in the military, retired or still active.

If P-Noynoy keeps persecuting Palparan, he might lose the loyalty of the entire Armed Forces. He cannot afford to be hardheaded.

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Jesse Robredo, whose death anniversary was commemorated on Monday, was an epitome of a genuine public servant. He could be reached anytime by the media for interviews on issues of national and even of parochial importance.

He was easily accessible to the media, not because he wanted exposure but because he wanted the citizenry to know that the government cares for them.

His humility and honesty was legendary. When he was mayor of Naga City, Robredo, wearing slippers, would hold dialogues with the poor in street

corners.

When he was interior and local government secretary, he would act with dispatch on complaints of citizens against abusive policemen and indifferent local government officials.

At the time of his death, Robredo lived in an apartment with his family. He was the modern version of Ramon Magsaysay, a man of the masses.

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If Interior Secretary Mar Roxas is wondering why his rival for the presidential contest in 2016, Vice President Jojo Binay, is always leading in the surveys, he should not be surprised because he’s a very poor substitute of Robredo.

People tend to compare the qualities of Robredo and Roxas as the latter succeeded the former in the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Roxas is wasting his chance connecting with the masses through the most powerful Cabinet post by being inaccessible to them.

It’s not too late for Roxas to do a Robredo since May 2016 is still two years away.