Brushing up on Coup d'état 101

Senator Ping Lacson was quoted to have declared that some retired generals and other former military officers attempted to offer him the mission to head a military junta takeover of the civil government. Senator Lacson claimed that he peremptorily and forthwith rejected it. My take on this is clear and categorical: Not now.

- Atty. Josephus B. Jimenez

Take it from me. The pulse of the nation indicates that the people are neither ready nor willing to take this crucial risk, especially a few weeks before Christmas. Millions who were victimized by the recent earthquake and typhoons have more urgent concerns involving their basic needs than take a rather desperate attempt to tinker with the duly-established government and duly-elected public officials. And millions of Filipinos these days are busy preparing for Christmas and New Year. Coup d'états can wait for the proper time next year.

The French term coup d'état which had its origin during the times of Napoleon Bonaparte is understood to mean today as a quick, decisive, and illegal and overt action usually by the military with an intent to depose a constitutionally-installed and democratically-elected head of head of state or head of government through extra-constitutional and extralegal means. To our mind, the socioeconomic and political situation of the country is not ripe for a coup d'état. A revolutionary situation has not yet come into being. Not yet, anyway.