The failed 1989 coup in retrospect.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Belinda A. Aquino

HONOLULU-In the wake of the latest caper in Makati, I dug up my dust-covered 1990 Final Report of the Fact-Finding Commission formed by then President Cory Aquino to investigate the failed 1989 coup.

A most useful reference, the 1990 Fact-Finding Report is not just a report in the usual sense. It is a 743-page volume of facts, documentation, analysis, interpretations, interviews and other materials related to the coup d'etat phenomenon, in general, and to the 1989 rebellion, in particular. To understand the dynamics of the 1989 putsch, the commission also studied all the previous coup attempts "since they are all inextricably linked."

The commission that prepared the report was composed of then Comelec Chair Hilario Davide Jr. as chair; and the members were: then UP Regent Delfin Lazaro, business executive Ricardo Romulo, CBCP member Msgr. Leonardo Legaspi, and UP Political Science professor Carolina Hernandez. Monsignor Legaspi later declined and in his place, President Aquino appointed Christian Monsod, who was then co-chair of the Bishops-Businessmen's Conference for Human Development.

I understand one of the original authors, Dr. Carolina Hernandez, has been named to the commission created by President Macapagal-Arroyo to investigate the likewise failed coup in July. This is a good development as Dr. Hernandez, who is a military-civilian relations expert, has the institutional memory to undertake this demanding task.

In summary form, the reasons for the 1989 coup cited by the participants were: (1) failure of government to deliver basic services; (2) graft and corruption; (3) too much politics, grandstanding of politicians and humiliation by politicians; (4) bureaucratic inefficiency exacerbating people's alienation and poverty; (5) poor military leadership characterized by a "tayo-tayo" system, factionalism and lack of support for the soldier in the field; (6) lack of genuine reconciliation; (7) uneven treatment of human rights violators; (8) absence of good government; (9) softness on the CPP-NPA elements; and (10) failure of civilian leadership to solve economic problems. These sound all too familiar, aren't they?