Philippines National Security Advisor

Security was tight for my 1st Wedding Anniversary family party at Lauremar Beach Resort in Cagayan de Oro City, the site of my wedding one year ago exacty, with all the stars aligned in the sky as they were this day, when Philippines National Security Advisor, the Honorable Noberto “Bert” B. Gonzales, Jr., was visiting Mindanao, most likely on official business or perhaps as a waypoint between his office in Manila and the terrorist action points in Basilan and Jolo Islands, in the Sulu Archipelago, off the South-Western corner of The Philippines, Archipelago. (The Sulu string of islands goes almost all the way to the Island of Borneo, which is about 25% Malaysia to the North and 75% Indonesia to the South, and is where most of the Muslim Separatist strife occurs, including the recent beheading of 14 Philippines Marines, on July 10, 2007. The Sulu Archipelago is considered to be a part of Mindanao in so far as governance of The Philippines is concerned.) Norberto Gonzales is the arch enemy of the the MILF and Abu Sayyaf, both Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organizations, primarily operating on Jolo and Basilan Islands.

Norberto B. Gozales was Adviser for Special Concerns to Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from February 2001 to January 2004, and then served as her Chief of Staff from August 2004 to February 2005. He was appointed National Security Adviser in February 2004 and will likely keep that post for the rest of Gloria’s reign. He was appointed Director-General of the National Security Council in February 2005, and concurrently serves also as Vice-Chairman of the Anti-Terrorism Task Force, and is also the National Anti-Terrorism Coordinator. Bert Gonzales also served his country as Secretary of the Department of National Defense from July 1, 2007, to August 3, 2007. Born on April 17, 1947, Bert lived in exile in Spain during the Marcos years, between 1982 and 1986. He is separated from his wife with whom he had three daughters and one son.

Norberto B. Gonzales is perhaps most famous for his refusal to answer questions before a Philippine Senate hearing about a contract he signed with the American lobbying group Veneble LLP, which was obstensably to promote the international stature of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He was charged with criminal contempt and detained by order of the Senate for his refusal to answer questions. His refusal was based on national security and executive privilege. I would liken Bert Gonzales to Ollie North, the American Colonel who refused to testify before the American Foreign Affairs Committee about the Iran-Contra scandal during Ronald Reagan’s Presidential reign. Ollie North is an American hero today, because of his loyalty to his commander-in-chief. I would say that Bert Gonzales is just as loyal to his commander-in-chief as Ollie, and deserves the same status.

It is also likely that Bert’s refusal to testify before The Philippine Senate was the cause of Philippine Executive Order 464, which was mostly later overturned by the Philippine Supreme Court. Essentially, Order 464 prohibited cabinet members, police and military generals, and senior national security officials from attending congressional hearings unless the President gives permission for them to attend. Order 464 was decreed one week after Bert’s refusal to answer questions before the Senate hearing. Had Order 464 been in effect prior to that hearing, Gloria would not have allowed his attendance at the hearing and Bert would not have had the opportunity to refuse to answer questions. However, the story of the creation of Philippine Executive Order 464 is officially credited to the fact that two military officers appeared during hearings by the Senate Committee on National Defense regarding the “Hello Garci Scandal“.

Bert Gonzales, who looks far younger than his 60 years, suffers from diabetes, from high blood pressure, and heart disease, as my own father did, so I cannot but help sympathize with him. Because of the stress of the situation, his medical condition, his need to protect his commander-in-chief, and his justified need to refuse to testify before a Senate hearing, he was admitted shortly after the hearing to The Philippine Heart Center for quadruple bypass surgery. Sometimes simple timing is everything.

Getting my photo taken with such a famous, perhaps even “National Hero of The Philippines”, was certainly one of the most important events on the day of my first wedding anniversary, but I had a couple of other quite interesting moments also. After our family beach party was over and Marissa and I had gone home and showered and changed, we went out for our night-on-the-town celebration and I was driving my Isuzu Vehicross when it was hit by a hit-and-run driver. I engaged in a high-speed pursuit chase and after about 10 minutes of horn-blaring and lights flashing pursuit eventually got the Nissan Van that hit me to pull over to the side of the road, where I obtained an essential lesson in how to handle differences Filipino style. Also, that evening at Zax Retro Bar, as Marissa and I continued to celebrate or 1st wedding anniversary, my friend Michael Auxillio, an induction batch mate (along with then Cagayan de Oro Chief of Police Aurelio “Doi” Trampe) into the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro, came to Zax Retro Bar as a special guest performer and sang and played his violin as only Marissa and I danced on the dance floor, to the tune of “The Way You Look Tonight”. It was an impressive performance by a special friend and impressive musician, and was the final highlight of the the past-and-best year of my life.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 3rd, 2007 at 06:36 and is filed under Cagayan de Oro, Philippines Expat Life, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.