Three of them have been doing "reconnaissance" missions in the past months in three of Pangasinan’s six districts in preparation for their congressional bids.

Former Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr., now chief of the Presidential Management Staff, has been very visible in the sixth district; former Philippine National Police chief Arturo Lomibao, now Land Transportation Office head, has been frequenting the fourth district; and Director Leopoldo Bataoil, PNP police community relations chief, has been visiting various communities in the second district.

The rest will be aiming for mayoral seats in their respective hometowns. These are Director Silverio Alarcio, integrated police operations chief in Northern Luzon, in Laoac town; former Rear Admiral Virgilio Marcelo in San Manuel; former Director Joel Goltiao in San Nicolas; former Director Ismael Rafanan in Villasis; and former Chief Superintendent Dante Ferrer in Calasiao.

Bataoil will retire on October 22 and Alarcio on November 29, in time for the last day of the filing of certificates of candidacy on November 30.

Two former police generals — Sta. Barbara Mayor Reynaldo Velasco and Bani Mayor Marcelo Navarro — will seek reelection. Governor Amado Espino Jr., a retired police colonel, and Rosales Mayor Ricardo Revita, a former police major, have also been preparing for their reelection bids.

Dr. Perla Legaspi, former vice chancellor of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, and professor at the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance, said most of the former generals who will be seeking elective positions came from the police.

And as police officers, she said, their decision to seek public office may have been influenced by their functions.

"Most of them have been dealing with the public, with the community, so they are attuned to civil functions. And because of these backgrounds, they know and they feel the thinking of the community and how to be attuned with [its] needs," said Legaspi, now program chair at the Lyceum Northwestern University graduate school here.

"Maybe, they think that they are better off than others who do not have military or police background because to them, their mission would guide them towards the achievement of certain goals," she said.

Lomibao said retired military or police generals have as much right as any civilian has in seeking public office.

"Maybe, it’s their sense of service to the people, sense of service to the country that they imbibed when they were still in the military service. Maybe, they will miss talking to people when they retire," he said.

"Being in the service, you deal with people, you handle people. You talk to people, you solve their problems [and] their concerns [and] you attend to them. And suddenly, when you retire, you stay home. ‘Yong iba nga diyan e naaatake, kasi wala silang kausap (Some even get sick because they have no one to talk to)," Lomibao said.

He said he knew of a general who, after retirement, still wore his uniform every morning and went to his office and read the papers.

"It’s because he still had hang-ups. These are the things that retired people — not only in the military and police — but even those who spend the best years of their lives in government, do. So, maybe we should give it to them," Lomibao said.

A local political analyst, who asked not to be named because he holds a government position, said it was unusual for many retired generals to be seeking elective posts.

"In the past, when a general retires, he usually looked forward to tending a farm or engaging in business. Politics was never an option then," said the source, a member of a political family who has been involved in local politics as campaigner and organizer since 1987.

He said the trend indicated that the police and military had been highly politicized, an offshoot of the martial law rule in the country for more than a decade.

"This is why when a general retires, he now looks forward to being appointed to a government position or running in an elective post," he said.

But Legaspi said that during martial law, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos did not appoint retired military and police generals to government positions, unlike now, under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, where several former military and police generals serve as Cabinet members and undersecretaries.

"The military was politicized then only in the sense that the promotion system was not followed. Seniority was not being followed," Legaspi said.

She said there have been success stories involving former military or police generals entering the field of politics.

Lomibao said having several retired generals in different elective and appointive positions was not militarization of the bureaucracy.

"I don’t think so, because we are already retired. I think the term is not militarization. Of course, we [underwent] military or police training — we have our own system, we are mission-oriented, service-oriented. That’s our training. So, I will not say militarization. I’d rather say, civilianization of the retired military [men]," Lomibao said.

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Lapid, whose first term in the Senate ends in 2010, said he was more comfortable serving his province mates than being a senator.

“Dito ako komportable. Gusto ko yung malapit na serbisyo sa tao (I’m comfortable here. I prefer public service that is closer to the people),” he told reporters here.

The language barrier—Lapid openly concedes having limited skills in English—may have added to his discomfort.

As early as 2007, he filed a resolution calling for a Filipino translation of the Senate Rules of Procedure.

High school grad

When his resolution was finally adopted this year, the move was seen as a much-needed assist to the senator himself, a high school graduate and former movie star.

“Para maintindihan ng ating mga kababayan, isa na ako roon (So that our countrymen, and I myself, would understand),” Lapid told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview early this year.

“Kasi Inglesan nang Inglesan dito. Matagal na rin ako dito pero marami pa rin akong hindi maintindihan na matataas na Ingles (That’s because English is widely spoken here, and I’ve been here for some time now but still don’t understand those high-falluting terms),” he had said in the same interview.

Senator vs governor

Lapid was an action star with a string of box-office hits before he entered politics. He served as provincial governor of Pampanga for nine years before winning a Senate seat in 2004.

Asked to compare his experience as a senator and a governor, he said: “When you are governor, you decide on your own. When you are in the Senate, you have to ask the decisions of [fellow] senators.”

Lapid, 53, said consultations with fellow senators delayed the delivery of public service so he decided to return to local politics where he could easily reach out to his province mates.

“I will continue with my candidacy regardless of opponent,” he said.

His administration, however, was plagued by allegations of irregularities in Pampanga’s sand quarrying industry.

He said he had discussed with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo his plan to seek the governor’s seat.

“I told President Arroyo that I wanted to go back to Pampanga to run for governor and she allowed me [to pursue my political plan],” said Lapid, who ran and won as an administration candidate of the Lakas-CMD in the 2004 senatorial elections.

Lapid’s running mate

During the press conference, Lapid introduced his running mate, neophyte politician Lea Dizon, his town mate in Porac town and daughter of real estate developer Tomas Dizon.

Asked to explain his choice, he said Dizon was God-fearing and trustworthy in handling the affairs of the provincial government. Dizon declined requests for interviews.

“[Dizon] will be my leading lady in the political arena,” Lapid said.

In 2007, Lapid ran for mayor but lost to Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, a top leader of the opposition.

Despite the loss, Lapid retained his post in the Senate because election laws allowed him to serve the remainder of his six-year term.

He was the principal author of the Legal Assistance Act of 2008, a measure that grants tax incentives and perks to lawyers and their firms when they render free legal services to poor clients.

Back to Porac

Lapid transferred his voter’s registration from Makati City to Porac this year in preparation for his candidacy.

Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao earlier declared his intention to run for governor next year as a way of continuing the legacy of his late father, former Gov. Bren Guiao.

Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio welcomed Lapid’s return to Pampanga politics, saying this would give Kapampangan voters more options when they choose their leader next year.

Plunder case

In June, Panlilio, a Catholic priest on leave who is serving his first term as governor, filed a plunder complaint against Lapid and his son, former Gov. Mark Lapid, for their alleged failure to account for P568 million in quarry taxes and fees during their terms.

The younger Lapid, now the Philippine Tourism Authority general manager, lost his reelection bid to Panlilio in 2007.

Up to the Ombudsman

Panlilio, who has dropped his bid to run for president, but has yet to announce if he is seeking reelection, said the campaign period would allow the older Lapid to air his side on the plunder charge.

Lapid said he would await the Ombudsman’s decision on the case. “It’s easy to accuse people of anything. I will leave the judgment … to the Ombudsman,” he said.

In his plunder complaint, Panlilio said the Lapids only collected P121 million in sand and gravel taxes from 2002 to June 2007, when collections should have amounted to at least P689 million.

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