While I was Sleeping: Another Coup d’état in the Makati CBD

Working in the night shift leads to a very erratic sleeping pattern. I manage to sleep though by wrapping a blanket around my double-deck bed and burying myself in 4 pillows. This cocoon method failed this afternoon because the insistent beeping of my cellphone woke me up. Text messages flooded my inbox:

“Due to the political situation in Makati…”

What?!I groggily put on the TV and was confronted with the non-stop coverage of another military coup in the Makati Central Business District. Sen. Trillanes had walked out of his trial at the Makati RTC around noon. He then proceeded with several of his co-defendants and some anti-Gloria civilians to the Manila Peninsula. Along the way, they were joined by men who changed into military fatigues and donned the red Magdalo armband. The group then overwhelmed the upscale hotel’s security and holed up in a 2^nd floor function room. He was cited for contempt of court and a warrant of arrest was issued for him and 14 of his companions. For the next seven hours, they were in a standoff with the military and local police.

My first thought was, yehey, no more Christmas party! It’s supposed to be held next week at the Rigodon ballroom of … guess where? My next was pity for the employees working at the hotel and the guests caught in the middle of the chaos. My third, and more relevant thought was, if the coup plotters were expecting another EDSA revolution, that is pure wishful thinking. I’m sure they sent a lot of text messages asking for people power, and there are reports of crowds from the slum areas being paid to rally in Makati.

No way. Not another EDSA on top of another coup. After the events of the past decade, the spirit of the EDSA People Power has died and gone to a happier place. I personally am sick and tired of promises unfulfilled and the endless parade of incompetent and/or corrupt leaders we have. I do not like President GMA. I was there in EDSA Dos as a young UP freshman. The reason I never attended another rally after that is because of what resulted from it. She is eternally spouting aphorisms about the economic progress under her regime, but hates being reminded of the blatant poverty, injustice, and corruption around us. I also have a nagging suspicion that she cheated in the last elections.

But she has been sworn into her office, and trying to dislodge her now is just inviting political, social and economic chaos in our country again. After seeing how military juntas have treated their citizens in other countries, I’m not eager to experience the same thing firsthand. I have had enough of this crazy politics, where a politician’s personality and not his platform matters. The system would work if we let it, and not throw an immature and emotional coup every time we feel like it. Why can we not have respect for authority?

After an hour of watching the news, I turned the TV off. The standoff wasn’t done yet, but I went back to sleep. I’m not apathetic. I can’t be even if I tried. Let her finish her term. 2010 is just a few years away. Then I can make a difference.  

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