Farewell pudge
Now, here’s another reason for me to provide aliases for the organization’s personalities I mention in this blog: the Old Toad has tasked us (our office, being the Info center) to search the internet for any detrimental article against him. Ugh. I’m scared.
The Pudge has retired. (Pudge, the butcher I say, refers to no one else but the controversial general in the Army). And yesterday, as we walked to the grandstand to attend his retirement and turn-over ceremony, there were rallyists inside the camp! It was my first time to have a close encounter with these people clad mostly in white shirts and bearing placards. The military could have allowed them in any other places (like near the gates), but not inside the place where the Pudge is supposed to be honored.
I was surprised as the Pudge was delivering his speech, he requested the rallyists to move closer to the center of the grandstand (almost near the troop commander’s post). I thought he was measuring how many people will be crying human-rights violation against him at the last minute of his stay in the armed service. I was wrong. Those people were actually his supporters coming from several central and northern Luzon localities like Bulacan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, etc. What they were holding were actually placards thanking the Pudge for eliminating the insurgents in their areas and criticizing the leftist (partylist) organizations.
I share these people’s support for the Pudge. He isn’t one of those famed graduates of the country’s prime military academy but the fruits he bore is comparable to no one else’s. His campaign against insurgency resulted to strict implementation of security in his area of duty. For instance, everyone is required to bring their cedula at any given time. A law-abiding citizen shouldn’t have qualms in following an order as simple as this. It’s like showing our bag to the guard everytime we enter the mall.
It is given that he is brutal when it comes to dealing with his enemies. And he’s got a wicked sense of humour, as I quote what he said in his speech:
… ang masamang kakaunti ay kailangang talunin ng mabubuting nakararami. Ang masama ay dapat mawala. Pero hindi ibig sabihin ay papatayin sila. Yung iba lang. (The evil minority [he's referring to the communists] must be defeated by the good majority. The wicked ones must be eliminated. It doesn’t mean that they must all be killed. Only a few will do.)
The whole grandstand, mostly military personnel roared with laughter at his “joke”. Jokes are half-meant. But he doesn’t deny the bloodshed he caused in pursuing the enemies. The organization is at war. And although the Pudge himself comdemns bloodshed. However, at this point, he cannot resolve the conflict without the use of arms.
I could honestly say that he’s one of the few who tries to uplift the organization by doing his job well and using his power efficiently, unfazed by public criticisms and enemy threats. His campaigns have been declared effective and he wouldn’t be popular if not for these. “Laging binabato ang punong hitik sa bunga” (Bountiful trees are easily picked), according to an old Filipino adage and however passé this may seem, it’s definitely true for this man, the Pudge. I salute thee.