Detained Negrense Capt. Milo Maestrecampo, who was recently sentenced to 40 years imprisonment by Makati Judge Oscar Pimentel for coup d’etat charges, said recently that reforming the Armed Forces of the Philippines should start within themselves.

“I have learned that correcting society is not only for a few individuals to decide on. It has to start from little things and later, if we are found faithful, greater things will be entrusted to us by the will of God; and it will come to pass in accordance with His Will,” Maestrecampo, who is from Talisay City, Negros Occidental, said.

Maestrecampo had been detained for more than five years at the Custodial Management Unit of the Philippine at Fort Bonifacion. He said the Bible studies with Pastor Vic Tigas, a former general turned pastor of the Friends of Jesus Christ Ministries, at their detention center, made him closer to God.

The former commanding officer of the 16th Scout Ranger Company stationed in Mindanao also said that acknowledging mistakes is something difficult.

He said it is a painful process, particularly if pride and ego are at stake. “It is too demeaning to accept that we have committed a mistake, especially if we always think that we are right,” he said.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and outgoing AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon have recommended pardon for Maestrecampo and seven others to Malacañang after they pleaded guilty to coup d’etat charges and were sentenced to 40 years.

Maestrecampo said that, as a consequence of what they did in Oakwood, more than 300 military officers and enlisted personnel were detained, affecting thousands of their dependents.

Maestrecampo admitted that attending Bible studies became a struggle for him and other detained officers, because of what he called their “pride and arrogance”. He, however, said they slowly understood the concept of submitting to authorities.

“God works in mysterious ways. The turning point in a man’s life usually comes in the most difficult and trying times,” Maestrecampo said.

He said being a Ranger or an Army officer who suffers in the frontlines does not bestow the right to righteousness and to be a provider of solutions to the nation’s problem. This is one of the important lessons in his life learned from his experience in 2003, especially his detention.

“Reform has to start from within each and every one of us. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart,” Maestrecampo wrote in a news article for MUSANG, the official newsletter of the 1st Scout Ranger Battalion.

The 1st Scout Ranger Battalion headed by Lt. Col. Antonio Nafarrete is now stationed in central Negros, to compliment forces of the 302nd and 303rd Infantry Brigades in dismantling of four New People’s Army guerilla fronts in Negros island before 2010.*GPB

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