A Coup Against President Benigno Aquino III?

Is there a coup in the offing? Many felt that, yes, something is brewing. For many, this calls for an assessment of the current environment. Is the environment conducive for extra-constitutional action? Yes, and no. Yes, because the issues that have sprung for the past few months really call for a resolution, and that resolution is invariably linked with systems change. Many Filipinos are now convinced that the final solution to graft and corruption is really changing the current decrepit system. a systems change is something that the current elites will oppose. these elites are composed of generals. traditionally, generals are not as idealistic as junior officers. generals will side with their own kind. businessmen, of course, will not change anything because they are benefitting from it. same goes with the political elites, most of them, are benefitting from the very system which the people hate and want to change. that 67% that still feel very strongly against the system are composed of members of the middle class, which, in the past few years, have burdened themselves with high prices and an un-competitive environment. junior officers of the Philippine military belong to this class. they are the ones who know first hand what is happening on the ground. they are well exposed to socio-political realities. they work with the masses in keeping communities at peace. now, weighing on the strengths and weaknesses of these two huge groups, one would say that in terms of

numbers, of course the anti-elite groups dominate the other. this, however, is being balanced by the management of resources. yes, the middle class has the numbers but do not have enough resources to defeat the resources held by the stronger elite. the elites of this country is one in their ambition to dominate the landscape. the middle class is fragmented. fragmentation is caused by differing ideologies. one segment of the class wants nothing more than a reprisal of an EDSA-type of change. another one, revolutionary. a large segment wants nothing more than liberal-style democracy. in the state of things, there is agreement that the system must be changed, but the method of change is still under debate. plus the fact that the middle class is headless and is not as organized as the elites of this country who afford themselves places or venues where they discuss the affairs of the state. in such a situation, this calls for the emergence of a strong leader who will brave the challenges of Fate, and lead the suffering masses towards a more equitable system. This writer does not believe that a coup staged at this point would amount to a substantive ending except benefit those being accused of stealing the people's monies. if at all, a coup will just be used as a tool by some groups out to save their asses from potential frying from the justice system. if at all, there is a potential leader out there who can provide a "win-win" solution to the present ills that bedevil this State, this leader would still need to establish trust and confidence from the very same masses he wants nothing more but to save and their welfares entrusted to him. what is most evident at this juncture is the fact that the people's trust behind their government is slowly decreasing. fact is, many of us have lost hope and just want our lives to continue living in a fucked up system of rewards, nothing more. in our system, there is only rewards to the brave and no punishment to the greedy among us. the greedy, like Napoles and her ilk, will escape the fangs of justice. someone will eventually replace Napoles as the political elite's head of its dirty works department. that is how the system works and this is the very system that we are forced to live at for the rest of our lives.