The general design for the coup effort scheduled for that fateful day we are now fairly familiar with. That design was pieced together from captured documents and confessions from young officers enticed to participate in the effort.
On the 20th anniversary of the 1986 popular uprising, leftist groups and pro-Estrada forces would mass in the streets on the pretext of honoring the event. The pro-Estrada organizations would stand shoulder-to-shoulder – no matter how awkward that might seem – with personalities associated with former president Corazon Aquino. The let-wing mass organizations, for their part, would try to force their way along Edsa and probably establish a position in the vicinity of the Edsa People Power Monument.
While all the scuffling in the streets was going on, the top-of-the-line units of the AFP and the PNP would move into offensive positions to mount a coup. These units would come from the Marines, the Scout Rangers and the Police Special Action Force.
We understand there was some debate among the conspirators on whether the Scout Rangers would strike Malacañang Palace and probably kill senior government officials. We don’t know how that debate was resolved.
There was a back-up plan to withdraw the rebellious troops to the UP campus in Diliman should the original plan go awry. There, they would hold defensive positions until reinforcements arrive or the people rally around the beleaguered rebels. This back-up plan was discussed during the meetings between leaders of the CPP-NPA and the representatives of the Magdalo group.
In another part of the records of these meetings, it was agreed that the military units participating in the coup would attack police lines trying to contain the leftist demonstrators. That would clear the way for a group of rebel military officers to emerge and announce before their adoring fans their withdrawal of support from the Arroyo government as well as the formation of some "revolutionary transition council."
Captured records show there was a high degree of disagreement among the plotters on who exactly would compose the junta and what powers this faceless council would exercise. There was no clear timetable for setting up a new and accountable government.
Nevertheless, the plotters could not let the opportunity of the February 24 events pass. With or without any agreement among the politically diverse conspirators about what happens after the coup, the plotters were ready to move anyway.
Now we know that hours before the coup was supposed to begin, Gen. Danilo Lim of the Scout Rangers had taped an announcement for television broadcast when the rebel units begin moving. That tape has now surfaced and provides what prosecutors call a "smoking gun" to nail the plotters beyond reasonable doubt.
The compelling nature of this piece of evidence is now being obfuscated by the conspirators. Former ambassador Roy Seneres, said to represent the interests of former president Joseph Estrada in the conspiracy, is now trying to convince us that there is no such crime as "withdrawal of support" from the duly-constituted authority.
How could this desperate attempt at obfuscation, this blatant exercise of intellectual dishonesty, possibly convince anyone?
Taken in the context of the other things we now know, the act of withdrawing support from the duly-constituted authorities is the key element of a coup in motion. We have tough laws that criminalize coup d’etat.
At the very least, those involved in the intended act of withdrawing support are liable in the Articles of War – the code of military discipline. They are breaking the chain of command, committing mutiny or, at the very least, engaging in a very serious instance of insubordination.
The agents of obfuscation are trying to confuse things by saying that the act of soldiers withdrawing support from the commander-in-chief cannot be prosecuted because the same acts were committed by their predecessors during Edsa I and Edsa II.
That compounds this crude attempt at intellectual dishonesty.
Edsa I, we know, was a popular uprising that pulled the rug from a flustered coup conspiracy led by Juan Ponce Enrile. The civilian uprising overtook and overpowered the coup conspiracy, relegating the latter to the dustbin of history.
Edsa II, if we care to remember, was a spontaneous popular rising. When the political tide had clearly shifted to the side of the uprising, the entire military chain of command decided to bow before that political reality and avert bloodshed by withdrawing support from the popularly repudiated president.
The conspiracy indicated by the Magdalo records and the Lim Tape clearly show that the plotters intended to break the integrity of the armed forces, attack civilian authority and take power by prostituting the leftist-led agitation in the streets. If was a plan that reeks of disdain for the principles of republicanism as well as absolute political cynicism.
By this time, it seems, the full picture that justified the proclamation of a state of emergency is on the verge of being drawn for the public to fully appreciate.
It is as simple as connecting the dots. The connections, that should have otherwise been invisible, is now being provided by blabbermouths like Roy Seneres and remorseful members of the Magdalo faction. Two officers are said to have had a serious change of heart and are now prepared to cooperate with the authorities, detailing the elements of the coup plot.
A number of new names of rebellious officers have surfaced in the course of the military investigation into the conspiracy. Seneres himself supplied a rather impressive list of businessmen who are supposed to have funded the coup effort.
Some of the other powerbrokers have been identified publicly and investigators are busy building up cases against them. Some of those that have yet to be publicly identified are people I do know quite well – many of them incompetent but wit unbridled political ambitions.
In the course of the next few days, when the captured documents from the remnants of the Magdalo conspiracy are fully analyzed and when the remorseful young officers issue their affidavits, the picture of an insidious (even if ridiculous) plot shall be laid bare.