Komikero Comics Journal

Military Rebellion In Makati

I was woken up at 4am today by a phone call from my mom, telling me to open the TV and watch the news. Still very sleepy after having been up all night inking Superman and turning in at around 1am, I groggily opened the TV. In the back of my mind I knew it had something to do with the rumors of coup d'etat in the news for the past week. I wasn't wrong.

I was immediately awake. On the TV were a group of very young soldiers airing their grievances against the governent, among them the allegation that the military sells weapons and ammunition to the very Communist and Moslem rebels that they are fighting against to elongate the war to the benefit of certain people/businesses, that Martial Law will be declalred by the government in August to keep it in power, that the President and the military themselves were responsible for the bombing in Davao so they could gain US aid in defeating the rebels.

Strange that the first allegation and the 3rd actually contradict themselves. Why on earth would the governent ask for US aid in defeating the rebels if they really want to elongate the war by providing weapons and ammunition to them?

In any case, I think I can believe the notion that the rebels would be in possession of weapons and ammunition from the goverment, but I seriously doubt that the President, the governent, and the Military is doing this consciously and as a matter of course. I would more readily believe in a very ingrained corruption within the ranks who sell these weapons to the rebels. And I really don't believe that GMA would be responsible for the deaths of innocent people in Davao for whatever reason.

But I think these Military rebels do have legitimate grievances, and I really hope that GMA and the government don't dismiss them as crackpots who just want to destabilize the country. The question they have to ask is WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? Why do these soldiers feel like they have to DO THIS. They have to find this out before they move on.

To all our friends abroad, I really doubt you guys have anything to worry about. It's business as usual here. I'm still inking, and I expect to be fedexing pages in a couple of days. The malls are still open (with the exception of Glorietta, Rustan, SM and other commercial establishments in the Makati Commercial center which the rebels have taken over. But they are restricting themselves to those places, nothing more. Foreigners caught in the hotels, including an ambassador, are in the process of being let go, and the rebels assure the public that violence will not start with them.

Hopefully, this will be resolved peacefully....but this better not be swept under the rug and dismissed just like that.