'RP becoming banana republic'

Neal H. Cruz, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network, Manila

"What's happening to our country," former vice president Emmanuel Pelaez (who died Sunday at the height of the Makati City mutiny) asked then Quezon City police chief, Gen. Tomas Karingal, after he was shot in an assassination attempt allegedly over the coconut levy controversy. (Karingal himself was assassinated months later in a Quezon City restaurant.)

Today, this is the answer to Pelaez's question: We are becoming a banana republic. Every two years or so, the country is hit by an attempted coup by disgruntled military officers, just like the banana republics of South America and Africa.

Of course, the rebel soldiers in the Makati adventure said that it was not a coup attempt but merely a mutiny. And that is how some sectors are now calling it.

But it started out as a coup, an attempt to take over the government, but was downgraded to Plan B, a mutiny, when it became obvious that the coup was going to fail. In fact, the rebels were telling President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "to step down" at the beginning of their caper. They shifted to "mutiny" because it is a lesser crime than an attempt to grab power. And also to protect the politicians backing them.

What did the rebels hope to achieve by such a dangerous caper? Was it only to air their grievances against the Armed Forces chain of command? Was it only to force the resignation or dismissal of Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, Philippine National Police (PNP) director general Hermogenes Ebdane and military intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus?

Was it only to expose the alleged selling, allegedly by Secretary Reyes, of guns and ammunition to the Abu Sayyaf bandit group and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the bombing of the Davao City airport, and for the military to unleash a wave of bombings in Metro Manila as an excuse to declare martial law? I don't think so. They're flimsy reasons to risk the lives and limbs of both rebel and government soldiers. Besides, they had already told the President about them at a Malacanang dinner and she immediately ordered the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces to institute reforms and address their grievances.

Why was it necessary to go through with the mutiny? Because they were following a plan and a timetable. The bullets, armbands, food, clothes and ID cards found in the rebel safe house in San Juan town in Metro Manila prove that the adventure took a long time planning. Such a risky plan of action is too much just to call attention to their complaints. The motive must be something deeper than that.

Former senator Francisco Tatad said at the Kapihan sa Manila media forum Monday that the mutiny was a "continuation" of the EDSA People Power III staged by followers of former president Joseph Estrada on May 1, 2001. If we come right down to it, the Makati mutiny is a child of the 1986 People Power revolt. It was not only inspired by that successful grab for power, this week's mutineers were trying to reprise that 1986 event.

By taking over and holding the Oakwood apartment hotel complex, they were expecting civilians to surround it and protect them from government soldiers, just as the people surrounded the Camp Crame police headquarters on EDSA highway in 1986 and protected the rebels from troops of then-president Ferdinand Marcos. They tried to turn Oakwood into another Camp Crame.

The question now is, what is the Armed Forces of the Philippines doing to do with the mutineers? Are they going to get away with 50 push-ups?

Rebellions and coups have become popular because we glorified the rebels and coup plotters. We made them heroes and elected them to the presidency and the Senate. If they had been defeated, they would have been treated as traitors and perhaps shot. But because they won, they are now treated as heroes. The victors write the rules.

The biggest winner in the Makati incident is, of course, President Macapagal-Arroyo. Tatad rightly said that she was much stronger now as president than before the mutiny. She acted quickly and resolutely and prevailed. But it also exposed the government itself as very weak. There is still no strong republic.