'RP becoming banana republic'

'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.