The trauma of a military intervention

The military institution has a long memory and its senior general had personally lived through the dilemma of an intervention.

- By MANUEL MOGATO

At a house in the gated Corinthian Gardens in Quezon City, just near the Armed Forces General Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, senior generals were in a serious meeting that would decide the fate of then president Joseph Estrada in January 2001.

The late general Angelo Reyes, who was chief of staff, was supposed to preside over a meeting to discuss the appointments and promotions of military officers.

Reyes was with the vice chief of staff, the deputy chief of staff, the three service commanders and the deputy chief of staff for personnel (J-1), who served as the secretary of the board of generals.

But the purely administrative business turned political as a popular uprising was happening a stone’s throw away at the EDSA Shrine.

The people were demanding the ouster of Estrada over corruption issues after a Senate impeachment trial was abruptly disrupted by a walkout of some senator-judges.

Estrada’s political allies had blocked the opening of a sealed envelope which contained details of corruption allegations against the immensely popular leader.

Estrada faced allegations of accepting bribes from operators of illegal number games, kickbacks from tobacco taxes and insider trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Reyes was in a dilemma. He could not decide whether to support the protest, which had run for three days, or the president who had appointed him to head the Armed Forces in July 1999.

Members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) class of 1969 dominated the board of generals, including the chiefs of the Air Force and Navy.