Freeing Trillanes assures P-Noy's downfall

I agree with Anti-Pinoy's BenignO, there is no rhyme or reason for granting Antonio Trillanes and his hordes amnesty.

A hundred sixty or more politicians in Congress and the Senate putting up a "clamor" to free a senator who disgraced himself by fleeing the courtroom in which he was being tried, dishonorably discharged military officers, and soldiers doesn't add rectitude to what is really no more than a brazen act of political accommodation.

The Oakwood mutiny and the Marines stand-off are the legacies of EDSA.  Where military adventurers hold it in their minds that they are somewhat saving the country from a corrupt regime in the mold of Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile.

Nothing threatens our democracy more than a band of soldiers who take arms or threaten to take arms against a duly constituted government for whatever reason.

Article II, Section 3 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution states, "Civilian authority is, at all times, supreme over the military. The Armed Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the State. Its goal is to secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory."

This grant of amnesty ultimately shows that the rot of the previous administration is still very much with us.  This rot, this cancer, is the unequal treatment of the powerful and the powerless.

What this shows is that if you some amount of coercive power and can wield it against the state, you will always be treated with kid gloves and be granted pardon for whatever crimes you may have committed.

The military, long accustomed to corruption, will much better suffer the whims of a corrupt tyrant than suffer the intellectual musings of a weak and inept elected leader.

Mind you, President Noynoy Aquino will soon find himself being bitten by the dogs that he has freed.

Military backed uprising versus Charter Change and Gloria forever?

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend? I think not. They can just as easily rob me of the freedoms I have fought for and won. They can just as easily be more corrupt "

When Brig. General Danny Lim issued a statement against the railroading of charter change in congress and HINTED at a threat of a military backed uprising, I shuddered.

I shuddered because the statement betrays an undemocratic tendency which may not be compatible with his aspiration to become a member of the Philippine Senate.

STATEMENT

To the Officers and Men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines:

Last Tuesday’s brazen railroading of the Con-Ass Resolution has erased whatever doubts, we have, about GMA’s true intention of holding on to power beyond 2010. This is not the first time she has trampled upon the Constitution we all claim to follow and respect. The EDSA Dos in 2001 was a coup d’etat that we, as an organization, took part in to oust a duly elected president. The 2004 election cheating, as exposed by the ‘Hello Garci’ tapes, was partly an AFP operation masterminded by the former Chief-of-Staff, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon. Countless other offenses have followed since.

GMA is determined and she will keep on ramming through every perceived obstacle there is, until she attains her much-coveted goal.

Now, only the collective will of the people with the support of the AFP can stop her.

I, therefore, call on every officer and enlisted man to follow your conscience and do what is right – PROTECT THE PEOPLE AND THE STATE!

BGEN DANILO D. LIM AFP

I was told that I was seeing things, that I misinterpreted the statement, and it was conjecture to say that General Lim was attempting to signal an uprising.

I bit my lip, despite knowing that the words printed in the e-mail that was sent to me was clearly aimed at rousing the military to take part in what is a CIVILIAN and DEMOCRATIC exercise.

For what purpose? To protect the people? From whom? From what?

I could have passed it off as another one of those publicity hounding statements, but then this was followed by Senator Rodolfo Biazon's statement against Con Ass saying:

"The people's massive response to this could drive that soldier to invoke their constitutionally mandated duty of protecting the people and the state and take actions to provide a resolution to the controversy, " Biazon also warned.

"THE DANGER IS IF THIS HAPPENS, FOR THE THIRD TIME, THE SOLDIERS MAY NOT ANYMORE BE WILLING TO GIVE BACK POWER TO CIVILIAN AUTHORITY."

"HR 1109 could very well be our constitutional equivalent of 9-11, an attack against out Constitution"

The biggest threat to our democracy are not communist or muslim rebels.

The biggest threat to our democracy are POLITICIZED MILITARY OFFICIALS who, on the face of it, are offering to save us from a corrupt regime but whose real objective is to seize power.

I cannot trust people whose actions or plans will deprive me of my democratic rights, for whatever purpose.

So, if you dear reader want to protect our democracy, make sure you don't support MILITARY OFFICIALS whose aim is to subvert and overthrow our DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES.