FORMER UST-ROTC Commandant Maj. Demy Tejares accused the former head of the ROTC in Metro Manila of conducting a smear campaign against Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin and President Macapagal-Arroyo at the height of the illegal gambling payoffs scandal that overwhelmed the country late last year.
In an interview with the Varsitarian, Tejares, who was relieved last January over a formal complaint of anomalies in the UST-ROTC filed by cadet officer Mark Welson Chua, denied he did not inquire into the irergularities, as alledged by Col. Froilan Maglaya, group commander of the National Capital Region- Regional Community Defense Group (NCR-RCDG), which oversees the ROTC in Metro Manila.
Maglaya reported to the Army Reserved Command (ARESCOM) about Tejares’ alleged “inaction” on his “instruction… to conduct investigation” on the anomalies of the UST-ROTC staff.
Tejares, said there was no such instruction. He explained what Maglaya ordered him was “to conduct an exhaustive black propaganda against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Jaime Cardinal Sin utilizing cadets and reservists.”
Tejares said that he could not distribute the black propaganda materials last November because he was “aware of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff’s gag order regarding the impeachment process.”
He added to do so would go against the stand of the University, which had called for Estrada’s resignation.
Earlier, UST posted its groundbreaking statement, “Education In and For the Truth,” in several newspapers and became the first Catholic University to officially call for Estrada’s immediate resignation in the wake of the scandal.
In his sworn statement filed with the Office of the Army Inspector General, Tejares denied allegations that he “deliberately misled (Maglaya)” regarding the anomalous transactions because, according to him, it should have been the other NCR-RCDG officers who should have conducted the investigation since he himself was a suspect.
Tejares provided the Varsitarian copies of the propaganda materials, which show an illustration of Arroyo talking to Bong Pineda, a provincemate and a suspected gambling lord, about his possible promotion as Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) chairman if she would succeed Estrada. Another material shows Cardinal Sin accepting casino money for the poor from the Devil with the caption, “Kahit pera ni Satanas tatanggapin ko!”
The propaganda materials also included statements from fictitious groups such as the National Association of Student Councils of the Philippines and the National Council for Justice and Peace calling on the public to support Estrada. The manifestos condemned Cardinal Sin, former presidents Aquino and Fidel Ramos as opportunists and as “enemies of the state.” The propaganda also enumerated “Ten Compelling Reasons why Estrada should remain as President of the Republic of the Philippines.”
The Varsitarian tried but failed to get the side of Maglaya.
