How much for these five to win a coup d’état?
Juan Ponce Enrile could’ve perished in his 1986 mutiny against Ferdinand Marcos Sr. The dictator’s tanks were ready to pulverize defense minister Enrile and his band of rebellious colonels. Had millions not marched to EDSA in People Power, he wouldn’t have lived to nearly 101 today.
A generation hence, Rody Duterte is inciting the AFP to break away from Bongbong Marcos Jr. His spokesman said that active and retired generals had told Rody they plan to revolt. No identities.
Rody accuses BBM of cocaine addiction. His daughter VP Sara Duterte will most benefit from the President’s downfall.
Enrile taunts the shadowy generals: “My advice to [you] is to shop for a people-power toolkit, and start your game if you can. Revolution is no bluffing matter. It’s ultima ratio, no point of return, a zero-sum game. Either you win or you lose. That’s it.”
EDSA ’86 swept Cory Aquino to power. Nine times Marcos Sr. and Enrile loyalists alternately tried to unseat her. Each coup d’état cost millions of pesos to stage. Each failed.
EDSA-Dos toppled Joseph Estrada in 2001. Ally Enrile couldn’t save him from the AFP brass’ withdrawal of support.
Four months later at EDSA-Tres, Enrile screeched, “Lusubin ang Malacañang!” Drunk with gin and high on drugs, a mob staggered to the Palace. Two policemen were lynched. Mercenaries in civvies fired rifles to provoke Palace guards to shoot back. Riot ensued. When pulutan in designated food stalls ran out, the mob dispersed. Shabu supplier Albert Sy Española fled.
Four mutinies against Arroyo crumbled. In 2003, Antonio Trillanes’ 300-strong Magdalo surrendered. One month apart in 2006 Marine Col. Ariel Querubin and Scout Ranger Gen. Danilo Lim were thrown back to the barracks. In 2007, Trillanes and Lim were teargassed out of a Makati hotel. Enrile bailed out Trillanes, but the latter bit him.
Coup d’état is expensive. On the third day of EDSA-Tres, Rappler reported, a battalion commander was offered cash to assault Malacañang: P1 million upfront for him, P500,000 per officer, P50,000 per enlisted man. The colonel reported the bribe to the brass. Three others turned down temptations.
How much would four bribed battalions have cost then?
• 1 battalion commander = P1 million;
• 21 officers x P500,000 = P10.5 million;
• 430 enlisted men x P50,000 = P21.5 million;
• P33 million subtotal x 4 battalions = P132 million.
That was 23 years ago. The youngest officers then are now generals and colonels fully indoctrinated in “civilian supremacy over the military.” More so new junior officers and enlisted men.
Soldiers’ salaries and allowances have more than doubled since then. They owe the last increase in 2018 not to Rody’s admin but the Filipino people. They look forward to quiet retirement (if their pensions are not squandered by inept finance secretaries).
If a fallen presidential crony lusts for comeback, he’ll have to shell out at least five times the 2001 bribe, or P660 million. Plus:
• P350 meals per day x 452 officers and enlisted men x 4 battalions = P632,800 a day;
• 750 portalets for 100,000 crowd x P800 = P600,000 a day.
And who will profit most from coup d’état?
(1) Communist China, which wants a return of Xi Jinping adulators to Malacañang.
The China Communist Party aims to invade Taiwan by 2027, before the next Philippine presidential election.
Taiwan is only 90 kilometers from the northernmost Philippine island. A CCP puppet in Malacañang can thwart US military rescue from its stations in nine Philippine camps.
(2) Perpetrators of extrajudicial killings and fake drug war, 2016-2022.
To go scot-free are murderers of Gen. Wesley Barayuga, 122 minors, 36,000 suspected pushers, several drug convicts and three mayors. A lieutenant colonel and a vigilante boss have confessed to Barayuga’s assassination. Three PNP colonels whom they implicated have yet to be indicted.
To be left unpunished too are Chinese drug lords in Davao City, narco-politicians and crooked cops who recycled seized shabu.
(3) Plunderers, led by Rody appointees and Pharmally pals. Recall that Pharmally alone squeezed P12 billion in fake and faulty pandemic supplies. Chinese financier Michael Yang was Rody’s special economic adviser. Other Chinese firms, including a state corporation that makes agricultural machines, took P35.5 billion more in COVID deals. Crooked generals got Small Town Lottery licenses but never paid the charity sweepstakes anything.
(4) Political dynasties associated with the Dutertes.
If a coup wipes out the Marcoses, other dynasts will take over their bailiwicks.
(5) Election cheating.
A coup will cover up the 2022 electronic ballot fraud, in which private IP Address 192.168.0.2 fed manipulated results to Comelec central servers.
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