Since February, when a state of emergency was briefly declared, the authorities have had difficulty convincing a skeptical public that indeed a conspiracy to take the reins of power by force existed. The official version of the conspiracy seemed worn-out: a band of disgruntled soldiers, encouraged by opportunistic powerbrokers, had worked out an alliance with the leftist groups.
But that was what the intelligence available to our security authorities indicated. And that is now what new evidence is authenticating.
Earlier this week, a taped announcement by Army Gen. Danilo Lim declaring withdrawal of support from the constitutionally designated authorities finally surfaced.
In a supreme act of folly, Lim and his backers taped the statement a day before the rebellious soldiers were supposed to move, using the phalanxes of protestors on February 24 as cover. The existence of that taped statement was long suspected. It has finally been found.
The taped statement proves beyond doubt that the military adventure timed for February 24 was real. But the discovery of that taped statement set off a more interesting chain of events.
At about the same time the tape was aired, the military investigating panel was preparing its report on the involvement of officers in the conspiracy. Leaks from the impending report named a long list of civilian personalities allegedly involved in encouraging the conspiracy.
The two events set off a loose cannon.
The loose cannon comes by the name Roy Seneres, former ambassador, partisan busybody and a frustrated senatorial candidate allied with defeated presidential contender Renato de Villa.
Possessed by much hubris – or simply momentarily out of touch with his sensibilities – Seneres rolled out a carnival all his own. He confirmed his involvement in the conspiracy and denounced his co-conspirators for not standing by Gen. Lim.
He went on spilling the beans on everybody else, supplying government investigators all the missing links to finally nail participants in this insane plot.
The taped statement of Lim, according to Seneres, was done with the complicity of businessman Tonyboy Cojuangco, cousin of Cory and owner of a television network with the facilities for making the tape and the means for airing it at the proper moment had the coup effort progressed. Coordination with the pro-Erap forces and other political movements was done allegedly by Oscar Orbos and Renato de Villa. Among the other businessmen helping fund the conspiracy, Seneres named F. F. Cruz, Jr.
Seneres says there was nothing illegal in what they had been doing. Both Gen. Fidel Ramos in 1986 and Gen. Angelo Reyes in 2001 withdrew support from the sitting president, he says.
In his inexplicable exuberance, Seneres overlooks one glaring principle: the final judge of everything is political success or failure. To the victor the spoils and to the vanquished the hangman’s noose.
It is a principle as old as political society itself. Only a power grab that succeeds can be called a revolution and may justly give the victor the right to establish a revolutionary government. A power grab that fails reduces its conspirators to mere brigands and makes them liable for treason.
State power is sacred until it is successfully challenged. Challenging the established authority is the ultimate gamble. It involves the highest stakes. In most countries that have abolished the death penalty for all other crimes, the most ancient form of retribution is still reserved for traitors. That is to underscore the grave responsibility of those the community entrusts with bearing arms.
By his bizarre enthusiasm to spill the beans on his friends, Seneres unwittingly provides government prosecutors the key testimonial evidence to establish the existence of a dangerous plot to topple government. By admitting on public record that he and his friends encouraged Gen. Lim to move towards the brink and create an incident that could have plunged out society into chaos, Seneres courts prosecution.
The ever vigilant Justice Secretary will not allow himself to be merely entertained by Seneres’ curious outburst. He has declared that Seneres has now made himself liable for inciting to sedition.
All of Seneres’ friends have promptly denied his very public admissions. They do not share Seneres’ enthusiasm for self-destruction.
But even if they put survival above all else and take opportunistic cover, the conspiracy they wove together so amateurishly is now collapsing like a house of cards.
The AFP has announced that Lt. San Juan, the one caught liaising with communist leaders on the eve of the coup attempt, is now cooperating with the authorities, convinced he and his idealistic colleagues have been cynically used by vested interests. He, too, although in a more judicious manner than Seneres’ kamikaze media run, could provide the vital testimonial links to finally make this entire network of conspirators ripe for prosecution.
And then yesterday morning, the core group of the Magdalo conspiracy was collected en masse in a comfortable safehouse in Quezon City by the police. The group included young officers who escaped detention and the same Christopher Belmonte who was arrested with San Juan after a meeting with leaders of the CPP.
The police raiders found high-powered firearms, explosives and incriminating documents. Those documents could tell us more about the funny designs for establishing a "revolutionary transition council" that has been percolating in the most desperate minds infesting our political community.
The sequence of events the past week has been breathtaking. I have a sense that the whole story in only now beginning to unfold.
Thank heavens for all the loose cannons that have insinuated themselves into this sophomoric conspiracy.