We’ve been complaining since Corazon Aquino’s time about coup plotters being made to see the folly of their ways with nothing more than push-ups. We need punishments that fit the crimes. Coup d’état is a grievous crime; it demands a grievous punishment.And true enough, the Oakwood mutiny is a coup d’état. A coup d’état is an attempt to seize power from a legitimate authority and rule without a mandate from the ruled. The lawyers of the accused may perhaps argue that their clients never meant to seize power; they merely meant to press their point, preferably with the aid of guns, since in this country guns speak louder than words. What they may not refute, however, is that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was the legitimate authority at the time. The mutineers had valid grievances, but forcing government to listen with the use of arms is not a recognized way to press it. Not in a democracy. Had the courts made this ruling before May 2004, their decision would have been accepted by the public. None of the mutineers’ grievances would have excused an armed challenge against a legitimate government. That is not the case today. Since May 2004, this country has been ruled by an illegitimate government. That might not have been decreed by the courts of law, but that has been decreed by the court of public opinion. Or the court of the voting population. “Hello, Garci” might have rung in the courts (or in the Batasan) only as a wrong number, but it will ring in the public mind as a reminder they do not have the president they voted for. The conviction of the Oakwood mutineers is exactly like the conviction of Erap. Few Filipinos will argue that the convicted does not deserve to be convicted, but even fewer Filipinos will argue that the “convictor” has any right to convict. The reason there was no universal elation over Erap’s conviction was that it did not just decree him guilty of corruption but decreed government innocent of it. The reason there will be no universal elation over the Oakwood mutineers’ conviction is that it does not just decree them guilty of attempting a coup but decrees government innocent of it – when government is arguably far more corrupt and far guiltier of seizing power than those it would punish for them. By coup d’état’s definition, this government would not be a government; it would be a coup regime. The seizure of power is no less real, or forcible, because it was wrought with ballot and not with bullet. Certainly, there is nothing benign and peaceful about the way that power has been maintained, having been rammed down the throat of the citizens variously by Executive Order 464, Calibrated Preemptive Response, Presidential Decree 1017 and the downright murder of protesters. The Magdalo verdict is historic. It’s the first time in this country military officers have been punished harshly for attempting to seize power – by civilians who have actually done it. – Conrado de Quiros, Inquirer | 
