Coup jitters
I just came in from Cebu where I participated in the Cebu Press Freedom Week celebration. I’ll report about it later.
I woke up this morning to a CNN report about a coup in Thailand. Everybody I talked with in the Cebu forum remarked, “Nakakainggit naman ang Thailand.”
Malaca?ang and the military officials’ protestations that a similar coup won’t happen here betray their nervousness. As Shakespeare said, “The lady protests too much.”
Anyway, here’s Malaya’s report on reactions in Manila:
by Regina Bengco:
EXECUTIVE Secretary Eduardo Ermita yesterday said there is no reason to be alarmed over the coup which ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra because the Philippines is politically stable and that the Armed Forces and the PNP are loyal to the Constitution and the President.
Ermita nonetheless said he got in touch with Armed Forces officials to make sure “things are handled in a manner that will not cause alarm whatsoever in the Philippines.”
Ermita said President Arroyo is monitoring developments in Bangkok.
He said neither he nor Arroyo was surprised by the coup in the Thailand because there were already reports of growing discontent several months ago.
He said Arroyo ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs to ensure that Filipinos in Thailand are safe.There are about 7,000 Filipinos in Thailand, mostly working as teachers or managers. About 4,000 of them are based in Bangkok.The Department of Foreign Affairs advised them to stay home.
Ermita said his calls to AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon and the major service commanders did not mean he was nervous, noting he faced seven coup attempts during the Aquino administration when he was AFP deputy chief of staff.
“In all matters that pertain to peace and order and national security, it behooves upon us to really make those calls,” he said.”I don’t see any reason why we should be afraid. I don’t see what the connection is…There is no cause for alarm whatsoever,” he said.
He said there are no more grumblings in the military because it is “solid” under the leadership of Esperon and his service commanders. He said any image of instability that the opposition wanted to project has been “corrected and neutralized.”
He said has no history of a successful coup. Seven coup attempts from 1986 to 1989 were crushed by the PNP and AFP.People power is not a military power grab.
Ermita said what is happening in Thailand is “hardly our concern,” although “we are hoping that such a problem in a foreign country like Thailand would be settled peacefully.”
He said the Philippines is not taking any position on the matter even if it is the chair and host this year of the Asean, of which Thailand is a member. “We are not making any statement whatsoever that we are taking sides or not. We are observers and we just take it to mean that that is their own problem, that’s another country’s problem,” he said.
Ermita said the Philippine economy is strong enough to withstand the repercussions of the Thai coup.He said despite Thaksin’s ouster, the Philippines will still follow his “Thaksinomics” and other economic policies that are adaptable or favorable to the Philippine situation.
“Thaksinomics” was the moniker given by President Arroyo to Thaksin’s “One Town, One Product” program which has she adopted.
Ambassador to Thailand Antonio Rodriguez said Filipinos in Thailand should stay home if there is no need for them to go out.”If you were to assess the reaction of people here, it seems they accepted the coup. But the possibility remains that Thaksin and his allies will launch a counteraction once he returns,” he said.
Thaksin was in New York when he was ousted late Tuesday.
Rodriguez said those who have relatives in Thailand can call the Philippine embassy at (662)-2590139, 2590140, 2599797, 2592809 (fax) for assistance.
NOT IN RP
The AFP does not see a coup happening in the Philippines because “the chain of command is intact,” said Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, AFP public information office chief, quoting Esperon.
Esperon presided over a command conference in Camp Aguinaldo yesterday morning, hours after the coup in Thailand.
Bacarro said the weekly command conference has nothing to do with the coup.He also said the AFP is not making comments on the coup.
“The AFP is not in the position to comment on the state of affairs of other nations,” he said.
Coup leaders said Thaksin was ousted to resolve a near year-long political deadlock and to stop “rampant corruption.”
Told that disgruntled military officers in the Philippines might replicate the Thai coup, Bacarro said: “Well, like what we said we don’t see it happening here. That will not happen here at present.”
“We do believe that the Armed Forces of the Philippines has remained intact and that we are aware that even previous (coup) attempts have failed because of measures being undertaken by the Armed Forces,” he added.
Bacarro said the military dynamics in Thailand and in the Philippines are different. “There are a lot of differences, there are different stimulus so definitely it (Philippine condition) is different from what’s happening there (in Thailand),Prada Purses,” he said.
Informed that Thaksim, like President Arroyo, is accused of corruption, Bacarro said: “Well, we don’t want to comment on what’s happening there. We are not in a position to comment especially if it involves political issues.”
Bacarro expressed fears some “threat groups” might use the Thai incident for propaganda purposes.
“They (threat groups) can start making propaganda along that tune na nangyari sa Thailand and it could happen here in the Philippines. However, the Armed Forces of the Philippines will categorically state that it will not happen here,” said Bacarro.
Maj. Ernesto Torres, Army spokesman, said: “The Philippine Army leadership will never allow this (coup) to happen. The Philippine Army, as a matter of policy, isolates itself from politics and distances itself from political groups.”
Torres said the Army is leaving “politics to the politicians.”
“It will not yield to any pressure from anti-government groups and the political opposition and aid efforts to unconstitutionally change our country’s leadership. The Army is focused on fulfilling its responsibilities to the Filipino people and politics is among the least of its concerns,” he added.
Navy spokesman Lt. Cdr. Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said: “We are not allowed to interfere in the political affairs of other countries… The Navy remains loyal to the chain of command.”
CHA-CHA STILL ON
Ermita said despite the coup in Thailand, government and its allies will not reconsider their bid to push for amendments in the Constitution and a change in the form of government from presidential to parliamentary, just like Thailand’s.
Arroyo has been saying that the parliamentary system would result in less legislative gridlock and less coups.
Ermita said there are more military takeovers or coups in a presidential form of government than in the parliamentary system.
The coup is Thailand’s first in 15 years but its 18th since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.
He said the changing of the guard in the parliamentary system is smoother. “We will still push through with it,” he said.
Senators both from the minority and the majority said a shift to a parliamentary form will not prevent coups.
“There is no government that is coup-proof. The moment you push the people too far, they would take the law into their own hands and launch moves like a coup,” said Sen. Sergio Osme?a III.
“Even during the dictatorship of (the late president Ferdinand) Marcos,replica handbags, there were coups. The people would take the law into their own hands if they see that their officials are abusing their powers,” he added.
Osme?a also said the claims of Speaker Jose de Venecia that a parliamentary system is “coup-proof” are mere “exaggerations done to convince the people that a parliamentary system is better.”
But, he said, a parliamentary government is “worse.”
“Under our type of culture, a parliamentary system would be worse because of the ‘tayo-tayo’ system (the practice of political allies taking common positions),” he said.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said a shift from the presidential to a parliamentary system would not prevent military uprisings “if the administration is corrupt and has no more support from the people, like the Arroyo administration.”
Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate constitutional amendments committee looking into proposals to amend the Constitution, simply said: “The situation in Thailand demolishes the argument that a parliamentary form of government would stop political instability in the country.”
IT’S GOVERNANCE
Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan said: “Regardless of the form of government, it is effective governance under the rule of law that will prevent extra-constitutional attempts at seizing power such as coup d’états.”
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said: “I hope the Thai coup does not influence the Armed Forces of the Philippines to grab power here. While Gloria doesn’t deserve the presidency, the people don’t deserve military rule. Gloria should now resign.”
Sen. Ralph Recto doubted if the AFP could do a “copy-cat coup” against the government.
“We have reason to believe that what we have is a constitutional military,” he said, noting that the military could have carried out a revolt against the Arroyo presidency at the height of the political turmoil in June last year.
Besides, he said, “there is no opposition leader charismatic enough to bring the soldiers out of the barracks. In Thailand, there is their king who’s the constant symbol of stability.”
Rep. Gilbert Remulla (NP, Cavite) said the Thai coup “just gave charter change proponents a black eye.”
“,led lights;Ang argumento ng mga pro-Cha-cha ay mas stable ang parliamentary form of government. The Thai coup just goes to show it has nothing to do with the form of government,” he said.
Remulla said the stability of a country does not depend on the form of government but on good leaders and good governance.
“It has everything to do with transparency, accountability and honesty in government. Kung iba ang sistema ngunit patuloy ang dayaan, nakawan at pagsisinungaling, wala pa ring pagbabago na mangyayari,” he said.
Rep. Joel Villanueva (Cibac) said a parliamentary system, clearly, cannot prevent a military uprising.
“Sinasabi ng mga pro-parliament advocates na mas stable daw ang parliamentary form of government para walang military coup. I just hope they can explain why it happened there and the assurance it won’t happen here,” he said.
House majority leader Rep. Prospero Nograles said military adventurism is a force to reckon with in both the presidential system and the parliamentary form of government.
“Whether it is parliament or presidential, talagang mahirap kalabanin ang military at grupong may mga baril. But this won’t affect our bid to push charter change,” he said.
Nograles allayed fears that Arroyo could suffer the same fate as Thaksin’s. “I do not foresee any coup d’état until 2010,” he said. – With Victor Reyes, Czeriza Valencia, Gerard Anthony Naval, JP Lopez and Wendell Vigilia
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