Even leftists support Danny Lim
8 March 2010

Big Deal
by Dan Mariano
from The Manila Times

Although he now needs a cane to get around, former University of the Philippines (UP) president Francisco Nemenzo Jr. is a tireless campaigner for detained Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim. That, however, is the least remarkable aspect of this unusual collaboration.

Nemenzo was one of my professors while I was a UP undergraduate in the early 1970s. He was one of the most prominent Marxists on campus although at the time he often found himself the target of brickbats from the more dominant Maoists who took their directions from Jose Ma. Sison.

That, however, did not stop Nemenzo from vigorously opposing the regime of then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that propped up his dictatorship for 14 years.

The professor frequently spiced up his political science lectures with attacks on martial law and the elite, to the delight of his students—including the “deep penetration agents” sent to spy on him and others in campus.

Why then would someone like Nemenzo now be campaigning for a Philippine Army officer—a graduate of West Point, no less—who had once commanded troops in counterinsurgency operations?

Speaking at a forum organized by the UP Third World Studies Center on Thursday last week, Nemenzo readily acknowledged the seeming incongruity of his collaboration with Lim. He described his transformation from a “rabid anti-militarist to an avid supporter” of the detained general in terms that only an academic can—history.

Nemenzo recalled his involvement in a research project for the United Nations University, which studied how the military played a positive role in overthrowing repressive regimes and sparking system change.

He pointed out the example of the so-called Carnation Revolution in Portugal, which succeeded in toppling a fascist government that had been in power since 1926. The April 1974 mutiny was led by Portuguese officers who had been radicalized by their exposure in Africa, where Lisbon was trying to crush national liberation movements in Mozambique and Angola.

The mutineers, who called themselves Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA), established a junta, which adopted a Socialist agenda. It lasted just two years because, as Nemenzo pointed out, the MFA had no mass base and “they didn’t know how to manage the country and conduct foreign affairs.”

Nevertheless, the junta succeeded in ending Portugal’s centuries-old old overseas colonies, broke the back of fascism and began the process of liberalizing the country—despite a counter-coup staged by the reactionary elite, supported by the American CIA.

Lim first gained public notice as the leader of the Young Officers Union (YOU), which held the business district of Makati for about week, during the failed coup of December 1989 against then-President Cory Aquino.

The YOU was led by junior officers like then-Captain Lim who commanded crack AFP units in operations against Communist guerrillas and Moro separatists. Although these officers constituted the spear point of the government’s counterinsurgency program, their field exposure also brought them in close contact with the mass poverty and government neglect, which gave rise to rebellion in the first place.

In addition, they experienced first-hand the corruption plaguing the AFP whose troops were denied even the most basic provisions while ranking officers enriched themselves with kickbacks from contractors and budget diversion.

The government regularly claims it has addressed these issues; it has even allowed many coup leaders to resume their military career. Lim, for instance, was given command of the elite First Scout Ranger Regiment and allowed to rise to star rank. AFP salaries were raised, housing and other benefits were provided and the logistics command was cleaned up—or so government spokesmen said.

Restiveness in the military persisted, however. Mutinies again erupted in 2003 and 2007, led by a new batch of disillusioned junior officers who called themselves the Magdalo. Apart from the old issues of corruption, the mutineers also complained of their superiors’ involvement in partisan politics, including the rigging of elections.

In the 2007 uprising, highlighted by the mutineers’ takeover of a Makati apartment-hotel, Lim was implicated as a mastermind—along with Navy Lt. (s.g.) Antonio Trillanes and others. Lim and Trillanes have remained under detention at Camp Crame, facing rebellion and other charges, ever since.

Trillanes managed to stun the nation when he ran for senator even while behind bars—and won. Apparently inspired by the ex-Navy officer’s feat, Lim is now also seeking a seat in the Senate as a guest candidate of the Liberal Party.

At the UP forum, Nemenzo said the YOU resembled Portugal’s MFA. This impression was further reinforced in the long discussions he had with Lim to whom he was introduced by the late Haydee Yorac, a former UP law professor.

“I have no illusion that even if Danny Lim were elected to the Senate he would be able to pass laws that would institutionalize change,” Nemenzo said. “Such laws would be diluted by the powers that be.”

Nonetheless, Nemenzo added, “a vote for Danny Lim would be a slap on the face of the traditional politicians and the crooked generals who are keeping him behind bars.”

Lim, in fact, was scheduled to address the same forum. On Wednesday, the Makati judge hearing his rebellion case had given permission for him to do so.

On the following day, however, Lim was barred from stepping out of the Crame stockades. The guards said they got no authorization from officers who were “not in their offices” at the time. In addition, police said they did not have enough security escorts for Lim.

Instead, Lim’s message to the forum was read by a spokesperson. Going by the audience’s response, Lim had apparently gained even more supporters from the UP professors and students who packed the Claro M. Recto Hall of the Faculty Center.

Apparently, Lim’s jailers did him a favor by underscoring his underdog image