Coup highlights corruption challenge

In exchange, Arroyo was rewarded with a rare state visit to Washington earlier this year, during which President George Bush pledged $356 million in aid and training to help the Philippines military upgrade everything from its helicopters to its eavesdropping technology.

But there are signs, at least in some cases, that the Philippines' problems in dealing with terrorism are far more than technical, and could make the American investment a waste of money.

Last month, Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi, an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist convicted for deadly bombings in 2000, walked out of his cell in the middle of national police quarters with two other militants. Filipino politicians say they suspect he bribed his way out.

In 2001, the main body of the Abu Sayyaf Group was surrounded in a hospital on Basilan island by Philippine soldiers, but managed to slip through the cordon with 19 hostages and escape without a fight. Hostages later alleged the military had been paid off to allow the escape, and a senate investigation recommended three officers be court-martialed.

Regional intelligence officials say corruption in the south has made Mindanao a haven for Al Qaeda-linked terrorists, where explosives and guns are freely available and borders porous.

"There's a lot of corruption in the Philippines Army, and the big source of corruption opportunities is the fighting in Mindanao,'' says a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a separatist movement now in peace talks with Manila. "That's been a problem for our peace negotiations - they blame us, but frequently they are the problem."

Indeed, the coup plotters themselves claim they were motivated by corruption in the rest of the military. They alleged that officers sell weapons to Muslim rebels in Mindanao and were behind a series of bomb attacks in the city of Davao this year designed, they say, to trick the US into giving more money to the military. Vitug calls their claims "preposterous."

"These claims about corruption were their fall-back position,'' says Jose Almonte, a retired general who backed the 1986 people power revolt and later served as national security adviser to Fidel Ramos, Philippines president from 1992 to 1998. "Their real objective was pushing [Arroyo] from power. However, the general problem of corruption is real."

Government officials allege that Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, a former colonel and Estrada ally, was the principal architect of the coup. Both Mr. Honasan and Estrada have denied involvement.

Honasan is one of the infamous adventurers of Philippines politics, and participated in several coups against the Aquino government in the 1980s before finally being discharged in disgrace. Honasan's continued prominence is a stark illustration of one of the Philippines' biggest problems when it comes to bringing its military and corruption under control: Rarely does anyone go to jail. Honasan was officially pardoned by the government in the early 1990s as part of a reconciliation drive, and was elected to the Senate in 1995.

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