In terms of pure numbers, in 1992, the President was reelected to the Senate in 1995 with “nearly 16 million” votes; in 1998, she was elected Vice-President with “almost 13 million votes”. In 2004, the official claim remains 12,905,808 voted for the President; 19,363,292 voted against. This puts the President’s popularity at the time at par with Dick Gordon.
The President has thrown her prestige and the administration’s resources behind Charter Change. The proponents of the “people’s initiative” claim “almost 10 million signatures,” which means nine million plus plus: an erosion of roughly three million from the President’s own proclaimed electoral base: indicating, too, support for the “people’s initiative” on the level voters gave Ernesto Maceda.
So, Keys me! The so-called signatures are even a far cry from the President’s proclaimed base of support.
Update: apropos of amendments, Rep. Jaraulla says, it’s December or bust.
Incidentally, can anyone from Cebu tell me what Monsignor Achilles Dacay’s standing, within the clergy and the community, is?
The news today continues with elaborations on the Lim video issue: Lim’s video saved Arroyo (this has been, pretty much, AFP Chief of Staff Senga’s opinion all along). Still trying to make hay while the sun shines, the Palace says it has dossiers. However, it may have walked into a kind of legal trap.
On behalf of fugitive Gringo Honasan, there’s the claim there wasn’t even an “Oplan Hackle.” But escaped soldiers identified with Honasan have been rounded up and arrested.
It would be good to revisit the distinctions between coup d’etat and rebellion, as explained by former Sen. Jovito Salonga, author of the law making coups a crime. Look at Title Three, Crimes Against Public Order, Chapter One, Rebellion, Sedition, and Disloyalty of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines:
Art. 134. Rebellion or insurrection; How committed. — The crime of rebellion or insurrection is committed by rising publicly and taking arms against the Government for the purpose of removing from the allegiance to said Government or its laws, the territory of the Philippine Islands or any part thereof, of any body of land, naval or other armed forces, depriving the Chief Executive or the Legislature, wholly or partially, of any of their powers or prerogatives. (As amended by R.A. 6968).
Article 134-A. Coup d’etat; How committed. — The crime of coup d’etat is a swift attack accompanied by violence, intimidation, threat, strategy or stealth, directed against duly constituted authorities of the Republic of the Philippines, or any military camp or installation, communications network, public utilities or other facilities needed for the exercise and continued possession of power, singly or simultaneously carried out anywhere in the Philippines by any person or persons, belonging to the military or police or holding any public office of employment with or without civilian support or participation for the purpose of seizing or diminishing state power. (As amended by R.A. 6968).
Art. 135. Penalty for rebellion, insurrection or coup d’etat. — Any person who promotes, maintains, or heads rebellion or insurrection shall suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua.
Any person merely participating or executing the commands of others in a rebellion shall suffer the penalty of reclusion temporal.
Any person who leads or in any manner directs or commands others to undertake a coup d’etat shall suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua.
Any person in the government service who participates, or executes directions or commands of others in undertaking a coup d’etat shall suffer the penalty of prision mayor in its maximum period.
Any person not in the government service who participates, or in any manner supports, finances, abets or aids in undertaking a coup d’etat shall suffer the penalty of reclusion temporal in its maximum period.
When the rebellion, insurrection, or coup d’etat shall be under the command of unknown leaders, any person who in fact directed the others, spoke for them, signed receipts and other documents issued in their name, as performed similar acts, on behalf or the rebels shall be deemed a leader of such a rebellion, insurrection, or coup d’etat. (As amended by R.A. 6968, approved on October 24, 1990).
Art. 136. Conspiracy and proposal to commit coup d’etat, rebellion or insurrection. — The conspiracy and proposal to commit coup d’etat shall be punished by prision mayor in minimum period and a fine which shall not exceed eight thousand pesos (P8,000.00).
The conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion or insurrection shall be punished respectively, by prision correccional in its maximum period and a fine which shall not exceed five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) and by prision correccional in its medium period and a fine not exceeding two thousand pesos (P2,000.00). (As amended by R.A. 6968, approved October 24, 1990).
Art. 137. Disloyalty of public officers or employees. — The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon public officers or employees who have failed to resist a rebellion by all the means in their power, or shall continue to discharge the duties of their offices under the control of the rebels or shall accept appointment to office under them. (Reinstated by E.O. No. 187).
Art. 138. Inciting a rebellion or insurrection. — The penalty of prision mayor in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any person who, without taking arms or being in open hostility against the Government, shall incite others to the execution of any of the acts specified in article 134 of this Code, by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, banners or other representations tending to the same end. (Reinstated by E.O. No. 187).
Art. 139. Sedition; How committed. — The crime of sedition is committed by persons who rise publicly and tumultuously in order to attain by force, intimidation, or by other means outside of legal methods, any of the following objects:
1. To prevent the promulgation or execution of any law or the holding of any popular election;
2. To prevent the National Government, or any provincial or municipal government or any public officer thereof from freely exercising its or his functions, or prevent the execution of any administrative order;
3. To inflict any act of hate or revenge upon the person or property of any public officer or employee;
4. To commit, for any political or social end, any act of hate or revenge against private persons or any social class; and
5. To despoil, for any political or social end, any person, municipality or province, or the National Government (or the Government of the United States), of all its property or any part thereof.
Art. 140. Penalty for sedition. — The leader of a sedition shall suffer the penalty of prision mayor in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding 10,000 pesos.
Other persons participating therein shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period and a fine not exceeding 5,000 pesos. (Reinstated by E.O. No. 187).
Art. 141. Conspiracy to commit sedition. — Persons conspiring to commit the crime of sedition shall be punished by prision correccional in its medium period and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos. (Reinstated by E.O. No. 187).
Art. 142. Inciting to sedition. — The penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who, without taking any direct part in the crime of sedition, should incite others to the accomplishment of any of the acts which constitute sedition, by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, cartoons, banners, or other representations tending to the same end, or upon any person or persons who shall utter seditious words or speeches, write, publish, or circulate scurrilous libels against the Government (of the United States or the Government of the Commonwealth) of the Philippines, or any of the duly constituted authorities thereof, or which tend to disturb or obstruct any lawful officer in executing the functions of his office, or which tend to instigate others to cabal and meet together for unlawful purposes, or which suggest or incite rebellious conspiracies or riots, or which lead or tend to stir up the people against the lawful authorities or to disturb the peace of the community, the safety and order of the Government, or who shall knowingly conceal such evil practices. (Reinstated by E.O. No. 187).
Meanwhile, there’s a report the Philippine Marines may be disbanded (not the first time such a thing would happen; the Scout Rangers were disbanded in the past), even as the President’s directive as commander-in-chief is being ignored in Mindanao.
What was the Ombudsman’s inaugural memo about?
Overseas Filipinos aren’t registering to vote in droves.
In the punditocracy, the Inquirer editorial says the AFP and the Palace are goosing each other.
Raul Pangalanan looks at people power; Michael Tan discusses salacious talk.
Has Prime Minister Thaksin attacked the King of Thailand? More trouble for the embattled PM, it seems.
Mexicans on tenterhooks regarding the presidency, but a ray of sunshine:
Conversely, Calderon’s argument did. He basically argued that over the past 10 years, Mexico, while hardly a paradise, was on something of a roll: Inflation came under control, growth began to pick up, poverty was being reduced, and lower interest rates made credit available to the lower middle class.
And all of this came about without repression, human rights violations, uprisings, political assassinations or runaway corruption.
In the blogosphere, Philippine Commentary reprints a remarkably prescient commentary he wrote (though seems irked by the imagery of goosing someone:
tr.v. Slang goosed, goos·ing, goos·es
1. To poke, prod, or pinch (a person) between or on the buttocks.
baratillo@cubao and Stepping on Poop with their take on the Lim brouhaha.
Bulletproof Vest on student’s opinions regarding tuition fee increases.
Iloilo City Boy on the media in the Philippines and Singapore. Viewpoint, Plot, Emotion reviews the ABS-CBN late evening news program “Bandila”.
If you have cash, please support Batang Baler.
Another Hundred Years Hence is on a roll: this time, tackling concepts of water transport in Metro Manila.
From Manila Vanilla: an amusing sign.
Technorati Tags: CBCP, media, military, people power, Philippines, politics
Gloria, basically, is an outlaw. EDSAII had placed her out of the boundaries of the law. she cannot enforce it nor be protected by it, legitimately. that’s reality, everything else is illusiory. Reality and the law will prevail, sooner or later, it is inevitable, inescapable whether pros or antis, believe it or not; it applies to all.
After reading Salonga and the sections of the laws you cited, I realized that all those definitions are premised on the legitimacy of the president. Hence, any charge of rebellion, inciting to sedition etc. don’t have a leg to stand on.
The action of Danny Lim etal were cconsidered criminal during the Spanish, American nd Japanese occupations. Those who rose against the occupiers are now in our hall of heroes.
Gloria is illegitimate. There is no duly constituted authority. There is no crime in desiring, plotting, or in any action related to overthrowing her.
mlq3,
I have posed the following queries in your other entries:
“Doesn’t General Lim have the right to ask others to withdraw support from someone he believes is a bogus leader in the same way Bishop Yñiguez is entitled to initiate the ouster of the same person via impeachment notwithstanding that the former is supposedly in a state of wedlock owing to the uniform he wears and the latter in separation because of his vestment?
“What makes the citizenship of one or the other lesser than any run of the mill Filipino?â€Â
My reason for asking is really to obtain a fresher perspective on what I wrote before when President Arroyo had issued Proclamation 1017, where I saw some parallelism between the conduct of General Lim and of former President Cory Aquino who has also called Arroyo to resign, in part as follows:
__________
Gloria is her own woman now. Anyone who is still taking lightly her murder instincts will be in for a long and painful ride. She gets her way – doesn’t anyone notice it yet? – with or without martial law or without telling the Supreme Cowards: “Don’t provoke me.†She doesn’t warn, “The penalty will be deathâ€Â: she just pulls the trigger.
Gising Bayan. The Philippine National Police Director, General Arturo Lumibao, is openly warning the print and broadcast media that the government will take over any of them if it does not conform to the “standards set by the government†during the emergency and it will resort to prior restraint of editorial contents, news reports or views aired in radio and TV stations to see if these conform to those standards. Arroyo unabashedly calls this state of affairs as the “Philippine Stateâ€Â; those of her opponents’ she brands as “authoritarian†or “totalitarian.†Meanwhile, dissenters are being arrested without warrants and protesters beaten up by the police unprovoked or not.
Yet, what are the undisputable facts: foremost of all, there is no lawless violence, invasion or rebellion whatsoever in the nature of a 9-11 attack. Won’t Arroyo otherwise have resorted to martial law or suspended the writ of habeas corpus if there is?
If the reports are true, what might have happened were certain exercises of “political acts†by some “misguided†men in uniform involving solicitation of “withdrawal of support†from the Arroyo government. “This was not an attempted coup, but an attempted withdrawal of support,†Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Generoso Senga in fact has been reported to have said.
Apparently, the plot was for the soldiers to join the people power march (the same kind of march Arroyo had joined before as vice-president of the Republic) marking the 20th anniversary of first People Power uprising. Conducts unbecoming of those officers that could subject them to appropriate military discipline these appear to be, but they are no less democratic than the call of former president Cory Aquino for President Arroyo to step down. What should becalm the restiveness in the military, if one suggestion could be offered, is for Arroyo to prove her legitimacy by other than the votes the COMELEC counted. In full hindsight, the impeachment process was a missed opportunity.
_________
The war on the church was a mistake for Gloria because the issue turned on morality and justice. She prefers the war on lim because it is a war on legal definitions ,spreading paranoia about the left and hate-mongering against the rich.
The danny lim tape was leaked in order to move the real issue from the hostile justice and morality territory to more familiar Gloria territory. Lawyers, fear, hate.
We have to keep our eye on the ball. We cannot be distracted by danny lim. The issue is justice and morality and that is what the impeachment process is all about, even though it will be killed for sure,. It is not about numbers. It is not partisan politics. It is about justice and morality as a criteria for judging leaders.
manuel,
The AFP must free or court martial Lim.
He’s got to be seen and heard.
The venue will allow all of us to dig deeper and obtain the truth.
Mlq3,
Enfin! Good of you to publish the portions of the RP revised penal code.
At least, everyone can refer to that.
The media should also educate themselves on coup d’état and stop spewing drivels about a coup d’état launched, foiled, quashed or even attemtped by Lim. Just ain’t the case.
As I’ve said, Lim could be accused of incitement to mutiny or conspiring to commit (mount) a coup d’état but as of today, it’s wrong to say he launched a coup d’état.
Abe,
Re ““This was not an attempted coup, but an attempted withdrawal of support,†Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Generoso Senga in fact has been reported to have said.”
Good of you to re-publish that too.
I really don’t understand why General Senga is violating the military rights of BrigGeneral Lim. I do understand why Lt General Esperon is doing it – he’s protecting his butt because of the Garci election cheating controversy but Senga? Is he scared that if he did, LtGeneral Esperon will pounce on him?
Mlq3,
This is the grossest overstatement of the year:
‘Military united behind Arroyo’
By Jolene Bulambot
Inquirer Last updated 03:11pm (Mla time) 07/07/2006
“CEBU CITY – Outgoing Armed Forces chief of staff General Generoso Senga sought to assure the public that the military remains united behind President Macapagal-Arroyo amid fears of possible rifts in the military over the ongoing probe of officers allegedly involved in a botched coup attempt last February.”
And there goes PDI again with it’s “botched coup”.
What drivel that newspaper propagates at times!
How can a coup d’état be botched when there was no coup d’état. Either they don’t understand the mechanics of a coup d’état or they are trying to propagate a lie for journalistic purposes.
Coup d’état is a distinct military term with military connotations and military meaning. It stands for itself and a coup d’état is either committed or not committed.
It can only be botched when it’s been launched.
But I will accept that a coup d’état ATTEMPT was botched, foiled, quashed if a coup d’état had taken place. But to say that there was a botched coup d’état is absolutely meaningless.
It’s as if PDI is still propagandizing for Malacanang when it says this. The worse thing is that foreign press buy the story that there was a coup d’état in the Philippines giving Gloria a significant amount of support for staying put – nobody likes coup d’états in the west!
That’s why I’m very upset about this sort of drivel being spewed. Not so much about the semantics but the foreign media buy it and it helps Gloria garner support on the international front – it’s like giving Gloria implicit support for trampling on citizens’ rights.
Ana,
Okay try him or free him And your points about how other military organizations treat their officers show you are well versed in military matters.
As to the reporters – The editors are also at fault for not correcting those terms before they are published.
Manuel,
In Europe alone, there is a strong belief that Gloria proclaimed emergency rule because of a coup d’état. Where do they get that? By reading news reports based on Philippine press reports and of course, because coup d’états are not looked up kindly here, Europeans tend to quiet down on the gross violations of human rights by Gloria.
An allegation that there was a coup d’état drowns the more truthful and serious issues for which people who are opposed to Gloria need international support.
I spoke to a columnist friend of mine not so long ago and asked him to re-calibrate the issue of coup d’état in his column and gave him the same reason – Europe sees a dangerous Philippines in all aspects (that was my excuse coz he’s pro-Gloria). I just read his column and seemingly, even if he is still pro-Gloria, he’s now taken a different tack and does not insist that a coup d’état was committed.
n behalf of fugitive Gringo Honasan, there’s the claim there wasn’t even an “Oplan Hackle.†But escaped soldiers identified with Honasan have been rounded up and arrested.
The mere mention of the name Tito Sotto made me laugh. HAHAHA
But then I like to remember the parting words of the IMF boss in Mission Impossible..should you or any member of your team has been caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow….
(background music of Mission Impossible IV)
MLQ3 wrote:
“It would be good to revisit the distinctions between coup d’etat and rebellion, as explained by former Sen. Jovito Salonga, author of the law making coups a crime.”
Even with you articulating it, i know this piece is for me. bwahaha. (ot: why are you fonts so small. you know that I am blind as a bat).
I did not say that coup is not a crime. The definition of coup by Salonga is based on our law. The issue is under our law, I have not heard of any people who were convicted for such crime despite the deaths of innocent people who were killed during crossfires, soldiers who were the frontliners. BUT THE LEADERS STILL LIVED, ONE WENT TO CONGRESS, THE OTHERS WERE PROMOTED TO BRIGADIER GENERALS.
So ang coup ay naging sampusampera ooops worth millions pala for financiers.
coorection without articulating it. sus ginoo.
There you go with intellectual dishonesty Cat!
Why don’t you make an entire round up and include Angie Reyes and the rest of the commanders who mutinied.
Angie Reyes became DND Chief after all and rose to prominent cabinet ranks… Tsk, tsk.
i dont mean to be ….but if we want to have meaningful information we should compare the same fruit and not make an analogy of an apple vs an orange. Dick Gordon’s number is not for the same office as GMA… it is entirely different..compare it with ERAP or FVR and it makes more sense..to compare it with Villar or Drilon or Gordon is not right. At least 10 million is still better than 300 signatures in Congress
… Its not that overseas Filipinos don’t care – half-an-hour’s surfing on the internet will reveal a terrifically vibrant blogging community of overseas Filipinos, all of whom obviously care – the problem is that many are disgruntled with the politics of their homeland …
Isn’t our current Republic under the present Constitution established via the “withdrawal of support” of then Gen. Fidel Ramos and Minister Enrile? Why should we vilify Danilo Lim or Angie Reyes for that matter when the foundation of our present democratic State is based on the dissidence by the military?
kimosabe27,
Aha! I believe that’s the best and most sensible defence Lim can present if and when he’s charged…
Ana,
Because the withdrawal of support of Angelo Reyes falls on the definition that I provided from wikipedia i.e. there is no need to have an element of violence/attack, it may simply a threat and the immobilization of some groups of the military. The withdrawal of support made by the putshists during the Cory regime falls on the definition of Salonga.
And don’t you understand what conspiracy and coup d’etat mean? DO I have to elaborate on that again? Because, if A. Reyes is going to be persecuted, then include the other conspirators in bringing the Erap goverment down.
Why prosecute the military officers and soldiers only in the Magdalo coup fiasco. Bring in also the financiers/the motivators ? If their beef was only for their higher ranking officers, then it is a mutiny.
“There you go with intellectual dishonesty Cat!
Why don’t you make an entire round up and include Angie Reyes and the rest of the commanders who mutinied.”
Distinguish mutiny from coup d etat. We are talking about coup d etat and now you are talking about mutiny.
Definition of Mutiny is the crime of conspiring to disobey an order that a group of similarly-situated individuals (typically members of the military; or the crew of any ship, even if they are civilians) is legally obliged to obey. The term is mostly used for a rebellion, mainly in the military, against the very authority the mutineers are normally paid to obey and protect.
So which is which is it girl?
to everyone,
corruption is the name of the game!
Despite glue’s incredibly notorious ways, none has suggested, nor even hinted, to take her out the mafia way. I’m sure it has crossed everyone’s mind though.
To Cat :
Up to you boy!
“Art. 137. Disloyalty of public officers or employees.  The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon public officers or employees who have failed to resist a rebellion by all the means in their power, or shall continue to discharge the duties of their offices under the control of the rebels or shall accept appointment to office under them.â€Â
Under the above provisions of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines public officers or employees:
1. who have failed to resist a rebellion by all means in their power,
2. who continue to discharge the duties of their offices under the control of the rebels, and
3. who accept appointment to office under the rebels,
shall be punishable by prision correccional (6 months and 1 day to 2 years and 4 months of imprisonment). Wow!
So, if Arroyo, Reyes et al are still rebels (under DJB’s long-running argument) Panganiban who accepted his CJ appointment and General Senga who also proudly accepted his AFP Chief of Staff appointment by Arroyo (and are you read for this – as well as the Honorable Raul Gonzales as secretary of justice) could be heading for the slammer if for no other ground than accepting their office appointments.
Success de-criminalizes the political crimes of rebellion, sedition and disloyalty because the new regime that succeeded shall create and demand new loyalties. It’s not a morality play but just how this particular aspect of the criminal system works for practical reason if nothing else.
The problem about the rebels, seditionists and disloyal officers during PP II is that the SC has demoted the uprising in Estrada v. Desierto to a status of being a mere step-cousin of PP I, thereby creating the false illusion that no new dispensation has been created as a result of the uprising. Today, active rebels in robe like Panganiban and Davide technically remain in a legal bind because of the SC’s misadventure in Estrada .
A more extended commentary is provided here http://redsherring.blogspot.com/2006/07/perpetuity-in-juridical-misadventures.html
Uy, Girl fight!
MLQ3,
But illegitimacy is the defining context of the Arroyo regime;
And missing are the numbers of the missing and gone – gunned down.
Missing too is the number of the masses whose votes in, sum, do not count.
Missing numbers and more – missing monies, missing people – define the Arroyo regime – a regime of lying, cheating, stealing, and killing.
To Anna,
Sorry for the late reply.I stand corrected re:Ping(2blogs,back).
In the messages where you include my name in the adress ,ako yun di ba ,not Carl?
The tape of LIM shown;will now give the administration justification for 1017.
pero wala ngang coup,naagapan.
mutiny, wala din.Kahit sa mnga pirate films, may mutiny lang pag sumurender ang captain of the pirate ship.
The captain of the ship did not surrender,there was no government take over, so there was no mutiny and no coup.
All the 9 coups listed in 89 or to correct that, during Cory’s time;were not coups ,only attempted ones.
The support base claimed of 12 million plus can not be reached because,she really did not have that 12 million support base,in the first place.
The 16 million votes she got in 1995,should be creditted to Nora Aunor.Dahil kamukha daw nya si ate Guy nung panahon na yon.At di pa alam ng mga tao na taray queen pala sya,ang nakita lang nila ay ang pagiging dancing queen nya sa entablado.
By the way Anna,
The reason why I said Ping withrew his support,because that is what I heard on the radio and what I saw on T.V.His public message was almnost similar to that of Angie’s.I heard and saw it as it happenned.
He did resign afterwards unlike Angie,who continued as chief of staff.
Karl, Anna,
Ping now is militarily marginalized, politically minimized; I wonder, if Ping then had stood his ground, solidly on the constitution, strongly on his commander-in-chief’s 11M world-record-breaking mandate, backed by an armed organization pledged to uphold and protect the constitution and the duly constituted government, would we suffer from a confrontation the havoc that Gloria is wrecking now?
Juan,
It would have been a different story.
But there were 3m plus in Edsa during that time,rather than hurt even just a fraction of it,maybe the national securitty leaders decided not to force the issue.What happened next was worse,the supreme court did not recognize the leave of absense of Estrada and instead took it as a resignation.
Again,the blame should be on the elite(not all), for continuing to make fools out of us.
Karl,
any way just crossed my mind, realizing the damage Gloria is wreaking now and her warning she won’t give second thoughts about letting loose the dogs of war should the need arises … to think that even she knows she’s illegitimate … edsa3 was warning enough …now, i wish for a civil disobedience, multi-sector & military,
btw, … EDSA’s 3M(?) need not be hurt …Chief PNP Lacson could have ‘invited’ the mob agitators the way Lumibao did, and Calderon will surely do …
Esperon does not have the moral ascendancy to push for the prosecution of Lim and the rebel soldiers. It is axiomatic that “he who comes to court must come with clean hands”. Esperon’s hands are dirtier.
Juan,
as they say hindsight is 20/20.
but siguro nga Calderon,after the NBI, would do the invites.
Thanks for bearing with me,on my 3m guesstimate.
As to the bystander’s take on Esperon:bull’s eye!
Karl,
How absolutely right you are.
There have been coup d’état attempts but not coup d’état in the case of pre-Gloria.
But Gloria did and succeeded. She did it with the military who mutineed and then the coup d’état was launcched and they succeeded. It was a bloodless coup d’état but it was a coup d’état.
Karl,
Good of you to clarify that coz even in the case of Col Querubin, there wasn’t even a mutiny. Had they disobeyed orders and marched to Edsa to ask for the reinstatement of Miranda, they would have been guilty of insubordination but not even mutiny.
That’s why I said Proc 1017 was based on an attempt by a military faction at insubordination.
Extraordinary!
the bystander, karl, ‘
“bull’s eye”? Esperon has bull’s shit over his eyes, he can see shit all over Lim but not on himself, bathing in a pool of bull, MORAL BLINDEDNESS characterizes his herd.
Karl,
Erap and Ping had already started to fall out. Ping had a very split PNP. He could not shoot it out with the rebel PNP officers – I do agree that he should have acted on his own in his capacity as PNP chief to “invite” agitators and would be rebels but there was already an implicit withdrawal of support even for him at the PNP level alone.
Gloria probably had gotten to the Police a lot earlier and corrupted them so Ping’s hands were tied.
However, I was one of those who were surprised that he didn’t fight it out and defend the seat of government even if his counterpart in the AFP was being purchased by Gloria and infinitely being a coward about it.
One thing I could say is that at least, Brenda Defensor’s brother was prepared to fight it out and he even challenged Angie Reyes to the last minute (before Angie brought Gloria to the room when they’d formalized their mutiny) on the unconstituionality of what Angie was trying to lead them to… He said to Angie, “Let’s fight them (Espi and those who wanted to bring down Erap’s government).
Out of precatution, he had also sent Col Yap up there with an aircraft to counter General Espinoza’s troops in case it came to a head with Espi and his troops who were threatening to storm Malacanang in case Erap couldn’t be convinced to vacate Malacanang (Funny that Gloria thought it was meant to protect her… hehe!).
Unfortunately, Benjie chickened out too – he should have fought it out with Angie to the end to uphold oath and his military duty to protect his commander in chief and seat of goverment at all cost. Obviousy he would have been outmanned since there were only 19 thousand + air force officers and men in PAF but outgunned? I don’t think so.
Anyway, at the end of the day, the Republic is in its terrible state, confused and divided because the military who had sworn to protect it from its enemies – whoever they may be, whatever their positions and however powerful these enemies might be, from within and from the outside – FAILED miserbaly to perform their duty.
Karl,
Could you ask your Dad if Lim has been formally charged with any crime under the Articles of War and if so, why isn’t he being tried yet? It’s been almost 4 months since Lim was detained. His military rights are being violated as well as his fundamentally, basic human rights.
Oops, alsmost 5 MONTHS not just 4 months…