Coup culture

Politicians should just simmer down and let a military court resolve in peace the charges against 30 officers implicated in the supposed coup plot last February.

If members of the Judge Advocate General’s Office initially recommended that the officers be cleared, their arguments can be presented during the court-martial. It was a preliminary recommendation and it needed a signature, which was not forthcoming.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon is taking responsibility for the decision to try the 30 officers for several violations of the Articles of War, including mutiny.

Marine Col. Ariel Querubin might not have been part of any coup plot, but he certainly looked mutinous on TV as he called in the APCs, screamed in public at his superior officer and summoned people power in vain. Such a breakdown of discipline is fatal for any army, and Querubin should be man enough to face the consequences of his actions.

People are less certain about the role of Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim in the purported coup that was supposed to have been backed by people power and launched to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 1986 EDSA revolt.

People power failed to materialize, businessmen and politicians who backed the plot later furiously tried to distance themselves from it, and both Esperon — at the time the Army chief — and then Armed Forces chief Gen. Generoso Senga played along with the recruitment efforts of mutinous officers before thwarting the plot.

Danny Lim, for all the medals in his uniform, should have left the service after the bloody coup attempt against Corazon Aquino in December 1989. His continued stay in the service, with no punishment for his ruinous mischief, helped nurture the coup culture in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

For all the medals in his uniform, Lim is better suited to the country’s rambunctious politics rather than military service. But before he can be allowed to enter politics, he should also be man enough to pay the price for his latest misadventure. It’s time for the nation to stop rewarding military coup plotters with amnesty money and a Senate seat.

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The political success of the most notorious coup plotter of all, Gregorio Honasan, has contributed a great deal to the persistence of the coup culture in the AFP.

Now he’s enjoying his revived notoriety and has made sure everyone knows he’s planning another run for the Senate. If he wins, he’ll have P200 million in taxpayers’ money at his discretion, which he can use for his favorite pastime: trying to topple whoever sits at Malacañang. The cliché is right: an idle mind is the Devil’s playground.

Too bad there is no enabling law to revise the Constitution and allow for a shift to a parliamentary system that will abolish the Senate. There are too many useless people wasting taxpayers’ money in that chamber. And judging by the names now being mentioned for a Senate seat next year, taxpayers could find themselves saddled with more useless non-performing lawmakers.

Detained, moving around in a wheelchair or hobbling with a crutch, Honasan – once regarded as a political has-been – is again seen as Senate material. Sado-masochism is a national trait.

With Honasan as their role model, how can military officers be cured of the coup virus?

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The coup culture is bound to grow stronger if all the reforms implemented in the military over the past two years are reversed.

This is becoming more likely as we hear the names being floated to replace Avelino Cruz at the Department of National Defense (DND).

Nonong Cruz is currently busy preparing his accomplishment report on the Philippine Defense Reform program. He is also drawing up recommendations to institutionalize the reforms.

With the names now being mentioned as his replacement, those reforms are more likely to land in an institution for the infirm, there to gather cobwebs, never to be revived again.

It’s been a long drought for the corrupt in the DND and AFP, but now it looks like they will soon be singing, "Happy days are here again!"

And with the return of business as usual, restiveness in the ranks is bound to grow stronger. This could be aggravated if concerns about corruption lead to a reduction in foreign military assistance. Our politicians have not backed their nationalist rhetoric with money for the troops, and the AFP remains heavily dependent on foreign aid.

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It is not impossible to stamp out the coup culture in the AFP.

Reforms including insulation of the military from politics, promotion of soldiers’ welfare, decisive disciplinary action on mutineers and coup plotters, credible civilian leadership and good government can cure the coup virus.

Good government looks like the weakest part of the cure; the rot in the system is too deep. But if military reforms take root, AFP members will know well enough to leave civilian matters to civilians and politics to politicians.

If idealistic military officers want to do their share in delivering good government and strengthening our quirky democracy, they should work to professionalize the AFP.

The rest of the ingredients for the cure must be pursued by the administration if it wants to be rid of the coup threat at least for the remainder of President Arroyo’s term.

This requires political will. It requires a resolve to sustain the reforms recommended by the commission headed by Justice Florentino Feliciano, which was formed after the Oakwood mutiny. Those recommendations are part of the Philippine Defense Reform program.

It will require punishing at least the ringleaders of mutinies and coup attempts. Politicians who keep making noises about strengthening democratic institutions should get out of the way.