Junta in the offing?

Since 1946, the Philippine Military has been avoiding the prospect of them becoming administrators of the state instead of their traditional role as protectors. Since the sixties, the AFP stood on a grand tradition before its Asian neighbors as the only military institution which has never ever considered getting political power for itself. Undeniably, there has been occasions when some AFP members considered launching a coup to replace the inept civilian administration like in the case of former president Carlos P. Garcia. It was only in 1986 when things changed which, unfortunately, even legitimitized military intervention on the affairs of the state.

The question which is now being asked is this--- is it time for the Philippine polity to yield to its guardians? I asked this because if we are to look at the very landscape we live right now, it seemed that thru the actions of President Duterte and his predecessors from 1986, the civilian leadership has slowly yielded political power to members of the AFP, wittingly or unwittingly based on the belief that military men are more competent than civilians. I would not expand this anymore. There is empirical basis for such an assumption, not just on the promotions of ex-Generals to sensitive bureaucratic posts, but also to the participation of members of PMA classes even in the elections.

What researchers had failed to observe is the expanding influence of military-oriented fraternities in the formation of grass-roots organisations. Coups of the eighties failed because of the lack of a civilian support component. With RAM transforming and behaving as a fraternity which accepted not just members of the armed forces but likewise civilians and with former activists giving an ideological justification of military intervention explained and further propounded thru Neo-Leftist language, there is enough reason to believe that our present time is ripe for the realization of their goals. And if such a grand enterprise do happen in the next succeeding days, blame not the academics who failed to predict its rise.