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================= Details of the Military Report of the Feb. 24 Plot ================= ================= The February "Coup d'Etat" and the Left's Alliance with the Militay ================= Miriam Grace A, Go, Aries Rufo, Carmela Fonbuena, Newsbreak ================= Chronicle of the July and February Days in Manila ================= Coup de Main, Coup d'Etat or Coup de Theatre ================= ================= Intrigues, Kindness, Rock Music Wear Down Madalo Detainees ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= Coup VirusThrived in Flawed Democacy =================
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Glenda Gloria, Newsbreak
On the night of October 2, a Sunday, the President got supposedly “A-1” information about a plan by military rebels to stage a mutiny, backed up by civilian groups. Senior military commanders and officers in Metro Manila were ordered to account for all of their men and block any movement out of the camps. A general and a colonel confirmed to NEWSBREAK that they were ordered to report immediately to Fort Bonifacio that night due to reports of an impending coup. Police units set up various checkpoints in the capital. It was the first time since the “Hello, Garci” scandal that officers were roused up from sleep to report to headquarters. We likewise learned from civilian sources that at least 80 officers and soldiers from various units nationwide have arrived in Metro Manila; they had left their camps either on official leave or Awol. They have been staying in safe houses, waiting for orders to move. What put Malacañang in a panic mode that night was the massive prayer rally organized by anti-Arroyo evangelist Brother Eddie Villanueva, which was attended by opposition personalities. Had the 100,000-throng stayed on the following day, it would have been the signal for the troops to move against the administration. Metro Manila has been abuzz with coup rumors since the “Hello, Garci” scandal. But this time, a plot of military factions to overthrow the President, or at the very least stage a silent protest against her, appears serious. It gained momentum after Mrs. Arroyo relieved two Marine officers from their posts following their testimony before a Senate committee investigating alleged cheating in the last elections. In fact, some Marine officers floated the idea of the 8,000-strong Marine Corps going on a mass leave to protest the relief of Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani and Army Lt. Col. Alexander Balutan. “We debated this,” said a Marine officer who, for obvious reasons, spoke on condition of anonymity. “But we can’t afford to be impulsive at this point. We have to be united, we have to act as one.” For now, the source says, “we’re simply into war games.” He did not elaborate. The Marine Corps commandant, Brig. Gen. Renato Miranda, neither condemned Gudani and Balutan nor declared outright support for the President. He maintained that the Marines were loyal to the people and to the Constitution—a statement born out of a command conference that he held with his staff. Loyal Top Brass To be sure, the Armed Forces top brass is loyal to the President, notably Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Generoso Senga, Army chief Maj. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Navy flag officer in command Admiral Ernesto de Leon, and Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Jose Reyes. However, a NEWSBREAK source in the broad anti-Arroyo movement disclosed that De Leon had asked an emissary to say that his lines were open to them. It wasn’t clear to the source what De Leon’s motives were. Army and Navy officers have been holding discreet meetings in the last month or so. These small meetings became more frequent in the last week of September, according to an officer who has attended some of them. In the middle of September, some of the jailed Magdalo officers who led the Oakwood mutiny in July 2003 reportedly managed to leave Fort Bonifacio to meet with fellow coup plotters outside. On the other hand, an Army general has been monitored in many places with anti-Arroyo personalities. The President herself had warned Esperon about him. Based on our interviews with civilian and military sources, it appears that those who have been actively recruiting for a coup are the following: members of Magdalo, or Philippine Military Academy graduates in the 1990s; former members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement-Young Officers Union (RAM-YOU), who have apparently regrouped and reunited; junior officers who are linked to the RAM-YOU; and the remaining Marcos loyalists within the military. The government is bent on jumping the gun on the plotters, thus the successive moves of issuing a tough order preventing bureaucrats and police and military from testifying against the President and peddling reports of assassination threats against Ms. Arroyo. The President’s loyalists won’t give in easily, and many anti-Arroyo officers are aware of this. Thus, they are spending a lot of time convincing as many officers as they can, preferring that if there’s a withdrawal of support by the military from their commander in chief, it would be complete, similar to what happened in Edsa 1 and Edsa 2. GMA’s Blunders This wasn’t the situation within the Armed Forces two months ago. Even as the “Hello, Garci” scandal dragged some officers and turned off many, they were just as equally frustrated with a divided opposition. Besides, the rallies have not grown to a compelling number and there’s no clear alternative in sight. This, plus the lessons learned from previous Edsas, which they see to have done little good for the country. To this day, most officers see the unfolding events either as an elite game of politicians or an experiment by the Left to seize power. But they acknowledge that civilian agitation has been slowly gaining ground amid continued efforts by the government to suppress witnesses to election fraud. A field commander told NEWSBREAK that with the election protest filed by Loren Legarda against Vice President Noli de Castro grabbing the limelight, it seems that the constitutional succession option had become the least attractive scenario. Thus, some military plotters have embraced the proposed revolutionary transition council that various anti-Arroyo forces—including Villanueva, the bloc of deposed President Estrada, former defense chief retired general Renato de Villa, and the Left—have been espousing. The military will be represented in this council. What has changed the mood in the military? The President has committed a series of blunders that have further agitated officers. The first was when she changed her mind in appointing Maj. Gen. Samuel Bagasin as commander of the Southern Command. Bagasin is generally respected by officers in the field. And while he has accepted the position of Armed Forces deputy chief of staff, the President can never be certain where his loyalties lie. He is, incidentally, a classmate of Gudani at the Philippine Military Academy. Before the Bagasin fiasco, the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) participated in the raid of an apartment where Legarda’s evidence in her election protest was being stored. This is highly irregular. The irony wasn’t lost on some officers: the AFP top brass could not even slap the wrist of Isafp, which is also the prime suspect behind the wiretap, yet was quick to relieve Gudani and Balutan from their posts. It hasn’t helped, too, that the President hasn’t discarded her bad habit of acting on raw information. While in New York last month, the President got word that some Marine and Army officers were planning to stage a protest at the airport to stop her from landing. She took this so seriously that one officer was called to report to Fort Bonifacio and stay with his commander until Ms. Arroyo arrived. In another instance, she told a commander to confront a colonel who she said has been spreading nasty text jokes against her. These things unnerve and humiliate professional officers. The latest blunder, of course, was the relief of Gudani and Balutan, which demoralized the Marines and further angered an already restive corps. Asked about the impact of the Gudani-Balutan case on Army officers, a senior Army officer who asked not to be named declared: “This will spill over to other Army units. These young officers have existing lines between units and these lines are very busy at this time. We all know that it’s a shameless attempt to hide the truth.” Just how divided is the military regarding the President? The same Army officer said, “It’s 70-30 against GMA. The generals in the chain of command are mostly the only ones loyal to her.” The following months will show if this is yet another empty boast of the disgruntled or a portent of things to come. =====================================
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