EDITORIAL — Destabilization

There is one problem with reports of destabilization operations: until the actual implementation, they remain in the realm of rumor or speculation. Rarely a day passes in this rumor-mad town without someone spreading stories of a brewing coup. The rumors gain traction only when given credence by the government itself.

This has to be the only country in the world where the government itself announces that it is being destabilized. When the national security adviser and the secretary of justice themselves make the announcement, even the international community listens. Some Malacañang officials tried to downplay the destabilization report but at the same time insisted that the threat was credible.

As if to bolster that credibility, the police and military announced yesterday that five dismissed soldiers had been arrested in connection with the alleged destabilization plot. The five, authorities said, are believed to be members of a shadowy group called Para sa Bayan, said to be led by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, the former commander of the Army’s elite Scout Ranger Regiment who is facing court-martial on charges of participating in attempts to overthrow the government. At Malacañang, security has been beefed up, with authorities making it known that there is a plot to attack the country’s seat of power.

Lim was also involved in coup attempts during the Aquino administration, and was with Antonio Trillanes IV when the soldier-turned-senator took over the Peninsula hotel late last year and called on the military to withdraw support from their commander-in-chief.

Security officials have linked supporters of Trillanes and Lim as well as communist rebels to the continuing destabilization plot. Given the record of these groups, the claim of the administration is not implausible. But like actual coup attempts, such stories of destabilization often prompt foreign governments to issue travel warnings on the Philippines, and tend to dampen investor confidence. Under these circumstances, government pronouncements about destabilization plots are themselves destabilizing factors. Unless the administration is simply looking for an excuse, as critics claim, to clamp down on legitimate dissent, it should stop shooting itself in the foot.