A FONDNESS FOR EX-SOLDIERS?
Arroyo seems to have a particular fondness for former soldiers — she appoints them by the droves to civilian posts, sometimes, just days after retirement. It is now not clear how many of these appointees got posted on merit, and how many, as loyalty perks.

Table 2: CESOs, CSE and CES Eligibles at the Defense Department Legend: CESO (Career Executive Service Officer), CSEE (Career Service Executive Eligible), CESE (Career Executive Service Eligible) Source: DND NAME CESO RANK OFFICE ASSIGNED Asec. Ma. Joji V Aragon CESO III OASSA Dir. Ramon El Martinez, Jr CESO III IMO Dir. Alexander T Gonzales CESO V OASIL Atty. Ernesto G Matibag CESE OLS Dr. Nona F Legaspi CESE VMMC Asec. Roberto Emmanuel T Feliciano CSEE OASPP Dir. Horacio S Gonzalez CSEE OAS Dr. Anne Marie P Sta Ana CSEE OASPER Dir. Ronald I. Flores CSEE OCD Dir. Norma C. Talosig CSEE OCD Ms. Mariciel Estacio CSEE OUSIA Ms. Rachel F. Cruz-Bacordo CSEE ASO

Arroyo came to power in 2001 after senior military officers renounced loyalty to then President Joseph Estrada.

To be sure, UP political science professor Clarita Carlos says all presidents before Arroyo had sent many ex-soldiers to retirement haven in civilian service posts.

During the Aquino administration, at least 15 retired officers were appointed to key civilian posts in the DND, Malacañang, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and other agencies.

Ex-soldiers had a field day during the Ramos government, which rewarded at least 100 retired and active duty military officers with government positions and board seats formerly held by civilians, according to journalist Glenda Gloria in her book We Were Soldiers. Fifty-two of them were appointed to the DND, Malacañang, DFA, and other agencies.

The number of military appointees went down to 28 during the Estrada administration, including 18 named to key positions.

By all indications, Arroyo takes after Fidel V. Ramos, a retired soldier himself, when it comes to allowing ex-uniformed men a revolving door in civilian service. By 2002, Arroyo had named at least 51 retired and active-duty military officers to civilian posts, according to Gloria.

The CSC, meanwhile, has compiled a partial list of at least 48 retired military officers in the Arroyo government. David notes though that more than 90 ex-soldiers and ex-policemen hold key positions today in the bureaucracy.

One ex-soldier also stands out for having a series of four Cabinet portfolio appointments: Angelo Reyes, the Armed Forces chief of staff in January 2001 who led the generals' mass defection to the Arroyo side during the second EDSA people power revolt.

FOUR CABINET PORTFOLIO
Reyes retired from the armed forces in 2002. Yet it seems like he has yet to spend a working day out of Arroyo's Cabinet. One after another, he had served as Arroyo's secretary of National Defense, Interior and Local Government, Environment and Natural Resources, and presently, Energy.

A career service officer who saw Reyes's work at the DENR laments the invasion of the bureaucracy by political appointees. “You look at that as a continuing downward [spiral],” says the officer. “You're demoralized, then disgruntled, then callous, then passive. You're dead.”

David, the CSC's chairperson for seven years until last February, calls the situation as “the politicization of the bureaucracy.”

How it unravels, she says, is simple enough to understand. Explains David: “When you know as a career person that your future is dependent upon a political act, and not on the constitutionally-prescribed merit and fitness... then your tendency is to be timid, to say yes, not to step on anybody's toes. That makes you ineffective.”