Willie N Ng
THE recent coup attempts, all nipped in the bud, have made people realize that while instigators from "the extreme left and extreme right" played an important role here, it was the foot soldiers who made up the critical mass.
The generals and colonels accused of leading the coup attempts would not have made their plans without the support of the men under them.
Fresh in mind was the TV footage of the six-hour stand-off in the Marines installation in Fort Bonifacio last Sunday where an officer called for people power while the men protested the ouster of their commandant who was suspected of being friendly to coup plotters.
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The coup attempts might have been aborted. But the same fighting men remain in the barracks.
This might have moved Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. to urge soldiers engaged in politics to give back their guns and uniforms "if they intend to join the (political) rallies."
More to the point, he has commissioned a survey to identify the immediate concerns of the soldiers, their grievances, their morale, and their opinions on the state of professionalism in the ranks.
That survey should also show the political thinking of the foot soldier.
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Theoretically, politics has no place in the military. All are expected to respect the chain of command regardless of whether they agree with the orders emanating therefrom.
But soldiers, like the rest of us, watch TV, listen to the radio, and read the newspapers, and are similarly influenced. Like civilians, they discuss issues ranging from politics to corruption.
It is a mistake to assume that they are automatons. Now, finally, we will have a survey that will show what goes on in the minds of our fighting men.
Maybe things like Proclamation 1017 is not the best way to deal with coup attempts.
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