Puzzling behavior

What on earth would possess a Marine colonel, just a few days away from retirement, to risk not just his pension but his freedom to go on Facebook and read a statement calling on the people to “replace the government”?

Col. Generoso Mariano has been ordered confined to quarters after copies of the video were distributed to the media just hours before President P-Noy (President Aquino) was to preside over a command conference in Camp Aguinaldo.

So far, aside from a few ruffled sensibilities in Malacañang, and amid reassurances from the military leadership that Mariano’s was an “isolated case,” the colonel’s video call seems to have been ignored by other military elements and the public at large. Although as Amando Doronila’s analysis piece in this paper points out, it’s certainly disturbing that indications of restiveness within the military should be surfacing just barely a year after P-Noy took office.

The question now is: Is Mariano’s video statement a reflection of a wider malaise among the ranks of the military, or was it just a form of “black ops,” designed to keep the administration off-balance and rushing to contain the perceived damage?

To me, though, the basic puzzle that needs to be solved is about Mariano: his motives, his possible incentives, maybe even the state of his mind.

A newspaper report says Mariano was part of the 1989 coup attempt against the late President Cory Aquino, the bloodiest of the putsches against the first Aquino presidency that ended in a damaging stand-off at the Makati Central Business District. Mariano was imprisoned for his role in that coup attempt, but he was apparently rehabilitated enough to rejoin the Marines.

Suspicion has naturally fallen on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who now faces plunder raps following revelations of irregularities on the use of funds of her appointed directors at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and is also implicated in allegations of electoral cheating in Maguindanao during the 2004 and 2007 elections. The timing certainly looks suspicious.

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Aside from following close on the heels of scandals that threaten to make the former president to finally face the music, Mariano’s video call also comes just a few days before P-Noy addresses Congress and the nation on “The State of the Nation.” How could the President, after all, say everything is peachy in the Philippines when a Marine colonel has so boldly called for the replacement of the government?

The timing certainly makes it appear that Mariano sought to put a damper on the Sona, contradicting whatever rosy claims P-Noy could make in this important speech. Aside from which Mariano’s video release distracts the nation’s attention from the case building up to Arroyo’s eventual investigation and possible conviction.

Mariano’s defenders try to make the case that the retiring colonel did not commit sedition or seek to usurp authority when he asserted any citizen’s “duty and right to replace the government.” It could be argued, after all, that by “replacing the government” Mariano could have meant any number of means—by the ballot (in the next election or by recall), through impeachment, or resignation.

But why on earth issue the call in the first place? Even other rebel military leaders have denounced Mariano’s call, and so far there have been no echoes of his call—from within the military or even from the perennially critical leftist groups—for P-Noy’s replacement. The only conclusion I can make is that Mariano allowed himself to be used as part of an elaborate crisis PR operation. His remuneration must be such as to make him forego a military pension.

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Like a spill sopped up by old newspapers, the stain of the phone hacking scandal enveloping not just the publications kingdom of media mogul Rupert Murdoch but also the British government itself has claimed unexpected and shocking victims.

The latest news is that Paul Stephenson, London’s police commissioner, has resigned after claims were made that he had accepted money from Murdoch’s News of the World and had ignored calls for a deeper investigation into the phone-tapping incidents.

Also shocking was the arrest of Rebekah Brooks, who was in charge of the Murdoch print empire at the time of the phone taps and who has said she knew nothing about any illegal activity undertaken by staff members and private investigators.

For years, celebrities, members of British royalty, government officials and even victims’ families had complained that journalists, most notoriously those working for Murdoch’s papers, had been tapping their phones to get their hands on hot scoops. But most observers say public outrage grew into unmanageable proportions only after it was revealed that reporters for News of the World had tapped the answering machine of the family of a 13-year-old girl who had been kidnapped and killed. The phone tappers had reportedly deleted some messages, giving the family false hopes that the girl was still alive.

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IT seems that while the British public thought celebrities and public officials were “fair game” for the excesses of the rambunctious “tabs,” reporters had gone far beyond the bounds of civilized behavior when they targeted an ordinary family victimized by criminals and prolonged their agony, all for the sake of a scoop.

What this shows us is that public opinion and public taste may tolerate the undue harassment of people who, in a way, court publicity and commentary, but it draws the line at chasing after ordinary folk who are helpless in the face of a media assault.

There are those who think Murdoch may deserve this comeuppance. But the lessons from his impending downfall apply as well to media outfits all over the world.