The soldiers may have a point about the progress in military reforms. A new defense chief has just formed a committee against military corruption, passing off the joint defense assessment between the Philippines and the United States, which has been going on for some time this year, as a new development. Most Filipinos will agree that the military has been slow in implementing reforms.
The Philippines, however, does not need soldiers with a messianic complex to launch yet another attempt to kick out their Commander-in-Chief. Sure, a new putsch may turn out to be nothing more than another pathetically comic mutiny like the one staged at the Oakwood apartments. There is nothing funny, however, about the negative effects of such military misadventures on the already battered Philippine economy.
If idealistic soldiers truly care about their country, they should simply do their job the best way they can, especially because military performance leaves much to be desired. Leadership change in a free society must come through the ballot, and that opportunity is just five months away. Apart from free elections, there are many other ways to effect reforms, weed out corruption and create a professional military. If disgruntled soldiers think one of their comrades has been murdered to silence him because he has denounced corruption, there are legitimate, peaceful ways of seeking a formal investigation to ferret out the truth and punish the killers.
Coup attempts serve no purpose except to create more instability that the country cannot afford. If all that supposedly idealistic, reformist soldiers have to offer their country is yet another coup attempt, they should just shut up. What we need is to be saved from these self-styled saviors of the Filipino people.