The next military czar.

(From Manila Standard)

FOR several weeks now, military generals have been engaged in a different kind of battle. They are trying to upstage each other in portraying themselves in the media as God's gift to the military organization.

Although it is a war being fought before the prying eyes of the public, all they want is the attention of only one person--President Arroyo.

Whoever is the winner of the war gets the most coveted reward, the highest prize in the military--the post of chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

So much is at stake in the competition that even Gen. Roy Cimatu, the incumbent AFP chief, has slugged it out with other players. Cimatu's three-month reign over the 130,000-strong military organization was supposed to lapse Sept. 1. But he had hoped his tour of duty would be extended.

A high-powered psy-war campaign was carried out to persuade the commander-in-chief to keep Cimatu at his post. But all his drumbeaters could get for him was a six-day extension. It was a concession given by Ms. Arroyo, not out of generosity, but out of exigency of the service. A band of bandits in Sulu, believed to be part of the Abu Sayyaf, abducted six persons. Cimatu had to stay put to defuse the new hostage crisis.

The President has stuck to her stand against term extension in order to give other deserving military generals a crack at leading the AFP. She thinks this policy is good for the morale of the military brass and even the foot soldiers. And any day now, she will announce the lucky successor to Cimatu, the 29th AFP chief.