VI THE FAILED DECEMBER 1989 COUP: WHO? Who staged it? This is the first question that is asked when a coup d’etat occurs. In the Philippines, because the same groups of plotters led by the same key conspirators surfaced again and again in the seven coup attempts after the historic EDSA People Power Revolt, this […]

V THE FAILED DECEMBER 1989 COUP: PRE-COUP EVENTS AND BATTLE ZONE NARRATIVES A. Overview This chapter deals with the events associated with thefailed December 1989 coup attempt in great detail. This overview gives the reader the broad picture, like a road map in a manner of speaking. The illustrations on page 259 show the battle […]

VII CAUSES, ANALYSIS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS The Fact-Finding Commission was tasked to inquire into the who (participants), why (causes), and how (events) of the December 1989 coup attempt and to make recommendations to prevent its recurrence. The narration of events is contained in Chapter V and the Commission’s findings on participants in Chapter VI. This Chapter […]

I COUP D’ETAT: AN OVERVIEW The coup d’etat, or more appropriately, the coup attempt, as a politico-military event is a recent phenomenon in the Philippine political scene. The country experienced its first coup attempt only in February 1986, when members of the Reform the Armed Forces of the Philippines Movement (RAM) tried to stage one […]

THE FINAL REPORT OF THE FACT-FINDING COMMISSION (pursuant to R.A. No. 6832) OCTOBER 1990 I. Coup d’Etat: An Overview II. Political Change and Military Transformation in the Philippines, 1966 – 1989: From the Barracks to the Corridors of Power III. The Environment of the Philippine Military IV. Military Intervention in the Philippines: 1986 – 1987 […]

III THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE MILITARY Coups begin in the minds of men. Soldiers who launch coups have a particular state of mind — values, perceptions, attitudes, and expectations — that define coups as desirable and feasible. Chapter I notes that a military group must have both the occasion and the disposition to intervene […]

IV MILITARY INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES: 1986 – 1987 The most significant development arising from the series of military interventions from 1986 to the present is the emergence of the AFP as a potentially decisive political force in our society. There had been seven attempts at military intervention from the period of 1986 until just […]

II POLITICAL CHANGE AND MILITARY TRANSFORMATION IN THE PHILIPPINES, 1966 – 1989: FROM THE BARRACKS TO THE CORRIDORS OF POWER This chapter examines the factors, both external and internal, which influenced the politicization of the Philippine military and predisposed it to the launching of coups. Traditionally, the military establishment is an organization whose sole function […]