Aglipay in my crystal ball.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Ramon J. Farolan

OUR congratulations to the Bureau of Internal Revenue on its centennial tomorrow. Willy Parayno is staying on board while Tony Bernardo is leaving Customs. The scramble is on for the waterfront post but an interim officer in charge seems to be the first step.

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During the last few years, the Class of 1971 of the Philippine Military Academy has generally lost out in most of the major command designations in the armed forces. Lt. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, Class '71, Northern Luzon command (Nolcom) head lost out to Lt. Gen. Efren Abu, Class '72, for the post of Army commander. Vice Adm. Ariston delos Reyes, also of Class '71, was overtaken by Vice Adm. Ernesto de Leon, Class '72 as Flag Officer in Command (FOIC) of the Philippine Navy. In the Air Force, only recently, Lt. Gen. Jose Reyes, Class '73, jumped over Maj. Gen. Edwin Galzote, Class '71, for the premier post at Villamor Airbase. Even the highest position in the AFP, that of Chief of Staff, appears to be out of reach of any member of Class '71, although one might argue that Gen. Narciso Abaya is a member of the class since his name in the Alumni Registry is mentioned with the class.

The class is an interesting study in contrasts. Many of the officers who joined the "Reform the Armed Forces" Movement (RAM) in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship belonged to this group. Among the more prominent were Gregorio Honasan, Eduardo Kapunan, Oscar Legaspi and Victor Batac. On the other hand, some of the administration stalwarts also belong to the same class, the most notable being Panfilo Lacson who recently lost in a strong bid for the presidency. If he and FPJ had been able to come to some agreement on a united front, we might have seen a different individual delivering the State of the Nation Address at the Batasan last week.

Just to provide the reader with some additional information on the class at the time of graduation, the Academy Scribe has the following notes: The Presidential Saber (awarded to the No. 1 graduate) was won by Oscar Martinez. He would also garner many of the individual awards but today he seems to have faded from the scene while less gifted classmates have risen to the top. The Secretary of National Defense Saber, (given to the No. 2 graduate) was awarded to Ariston delos Reyes, now the Vice Chief of Staff, AFP. It is interesting to note that Delos Reyes also received the Deputy Chief of Staff award. Some 32 years later, he actually became the Deputy Chief of Staff of the AFP. The Chief of Staff Saber (for the Cadet First Captain) went to Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan. According to some sources, the nickname was a takeoff from a Clint Eastwood movie, "A Fistful of Dollars." The hero in this spaghetti western was "Gringo," a cool, quiet but at times violent ...