Abenina: Coup attempts to fail

Retired general Eduardo Abenina ruled out any coup plots against the Arroyo government and said any attempt of a military takeover is doomed to fail..

Abenina said he could not see a coup becoming successful at this time since the factors which prompted him and other military officers to take up arms in the past no longer exist. "The cause for fighting is no longer there," he said.

Abenina, as head of the Rebolusyunaryong Alyansang Makabansa (RAM), led the military uprising in 1989 against then President Corazon Aquino, believing that communists had already infiltrated the government at that time.

However, at present, he claims no military official would support any destablization attempt against the administration because President Arroyo is now implementing the reforms they fought for in the past.

Now head of the Land Transportation Office, Abenina said he is focusing on weeding out corrupt officials in his agency, and that he would remain a "rebel with a cause." — Perseus Echeminada