By Philip M. Lustre Jr.
N.B. I originally wrote and posted it on December 2, 2013. This is somewhat expanded as I had to include some details, which I failed to mention in the earlier post. No, this is not a criticism of Mike Enriquez. But I saw him how he behaved during a tight situation. I would not be surprised if he pissed in his pants. I always tell myself, he should not be a journalist. He should stick to playing records, a disc jockey. He is best suited to spin records.
DECEMBER First passed without me noticing its historical significance. I was busy attending to my daughter Patricia Anne, who was down with dengue fever in a QC hospital. That was the reason I failed to recall the start of the biggest and bloodiest seventh military coup in the annals of Philippine history. It was indeed a winner-take-all situation. A day late, allow me to recall from my vantage point what took place on December 1, 1989.
I was a political reporter of the defunct Philippine Daily Globe, when the biggest military coup took place on this date. I was assigned to cover the Senate, but my superiors tolerated, albeit unofficially, my side job as host of the early morning radio program "Mano-Mano" over dzXL, which is owned by the Radio Mindanao Network of the Canoy family of Cagayan de Oro City.
Perhaps, my superiors knew I was in dire financial straits (I was father to three kids and a stay-at-home wife) and moonlighting in a job that did not compete with our newspaper was the answer. There were times I got my news from my radio program. It was helpful for my print media job.
Since my one and a half hour radio program started at 7:30 am, I made it a point to be at the radio station by 5 to 5:30 am. I usually read the various newspapers, and studied possible topics and angles of discussions in my program. I was thorough in my preparations. As much as possible, I did not leave any gaps in my side job.
Broadcast media has its peculiarities. It’s a high velocity job. A program host could have a daily two-hour public affairs program. But preparations are intense. A host has to be knowledgeable of the topics he discusses on air.
I arrived at the radio station at the old but now Philcomcen building (it’s now a new structure) along Ortigas Avenue at around 5 am. I was deeply engrossed reading the newspapers at daybreak, when I heard huge explosions and staccato sounds of gunfire. Hell broke loose. Suddenly, the radio programming took a drastic turn. It was to report on the breaking news: coup d'etat.
From dzXL's radio booth in the 23rd or 24th floor of Philcomcen (I don't recall the exact floor), I and the staff saw some movements, which included airplanes and tanks going for the kill. All programs, including mine, were preempted to give way to the largest military putsch in history.
In hindsight, this was a coup participated by dozens of military generals to put an end to the restored democracy under Cory Aquino. Likening the Cory Aquino to Germany's Weimar Republic of the pre-Nazi era, the putchists believed that its weakness would give way to its total collapse. But this could only happen through the magic of a power grab. It was not that simple though. The Cory Aquino government had its military generals, who stood to defend the restored democracy.
Radio reporters Angelo Palmones, Rowena Papasin, Emily Crame, Joseph Parafina, Allan Allanigue, and Rene Sta. Cruz, who have all later become big names in broadcast journalism, took turns to report details of the coup. Radio hosts like the late Armand Roque and Rolly Gonzalo pitched in to help. Butch Gonzales, the station manager who recruited me to host the public affairs program, also helped.
But what I noticed most was dzXL's top honcho - Mike Enriquez. Basically a disc jockey with hardly any training in serious broadcast journalism, Mike took over the anchoring job. He went inside the booth and sat on the chair to give a blow by blow account. To the staff, Mike was "Booma," the powerful, imposing, but not necessarily cerebral general manager of the radio station.
To my horror, Mike was a picture of a nervous wreck who was about to go haywire in his coverage and anchoring job. There was no composure, no calmness, no poise, or rationality in the middle of a storm. It was all panic.
If he had pissed and defecated in his pants at that particular point, I would not be surprised because I knew that was something bound to happen to a nervous wreck like him. Journalism requires a cerebral calmness to meet every tense journalism situation. Otherwise, a journalist would be failure in his job to inform the public.
At one point, I remember Angelo Palmones's live interview of then Col. Edgardo "Red" Kapunan, one of the key leaders of the putsch, but Mike cut short the interview. He ordered the staff to cut Kapunan's interview off the air.
Mike was saying at the top of his voice that the coup was doomed because the Americans had already sided with Cory. He saw those persuasion flights of US jets to indicate the US stand on the military coup. Mike was partially correct.
But until now, I am still stunned by his reckless and nervous demeanor, which in my judgment did not inspire fellow journalists. How did this motormouth become a broadcast journalist?
The military coup went on as planned. Soldiers fought against fellow soldiers. Brother officers drew their guns to face their brother officers. Greg Honasan's earlier pronouncement that "brother officers don't shoot each other" became a distant memory. The bloodletting was sort of cleansing process for men and women in uniform.
The two sides gave no quarters. The coup proceeded for several more days, but at the end, the pro-government forces won over the putchist forces, which were said to be identified with the Marcos dictatorship and other putchist elements.
The December 1, 1989 military coup gave the entire military establishment the most traumatic, painful, and poignant experience. It was an experience of profound magnitude to the point that the officers' corps did not resort to such confrontation again.
When the military establishment was to intervene again in the 2001 EDSA Dos, its leaders chose a different path. Instead of killing each other, they merely withdrew support from Erap Estrada, the fumbling corrupt president at that time.
This is my recollection of the Dec. 1, 1989 coup. We could only learn from history.
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