Resign, then withdraw support

key quote:

Let us accept as as true the claim of the Palace that General Danilo Lim of the elite Scout Rangers Batallion of the Philippine Army, had asked his immediate superior General Generoso Senga to withdraw support for the Presidency with him, and that Colonel Ariel Querubin had done the same with General Renato Miranda, and a similar defection from the PNP Special Action Force by a General Franco. It has been further revealed their plan was to march out of their camps last Friday, without guns and uniforms if Col. Querubin is to be believed (and the fairy tales of the Daily Tribune's new editor and publisher, Chief of Police Lomibao, disbelieved), to join the Makati rally led by Cory Aquino. (I believe Querubin because it seems impossible that they planned to bring an armed force to the peaceful rally).

The picture that emerges is that of a stunning new solution to the Citizen-Soldiers Dilemma: RESIGN YOUR COMMISSION, BECOME INSTANTLY A CITIZEN AGAIN, THEN WITHDRAW SUPPORT FOR THE PRESIDENT. In this way, you have "preserved" the chain of command, as you have not acted in the role of Soldier, but of Citizen. In this way they found a brilliant solution to the dilemma which does not require them to break any oaths or abjure the Constitution. The solution of General Lim and Colonel Querubin would have been a vast philosophical improvement over that of General Angelo Reyes. Once, when I was still working for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, I asked then AFP Chief of Staff Narciso Abaya whether he himself would've done what General Angelo Reyes did on 19 January 2001. He asked me to turn off the tape recorder, but did not elicit a promise from me never to reveal his answer which I do today for the first time, ever: General Abaya said, he would NOT, that he was a "Constitutional Soldier" and that he would first resign then join the Edsa forces.

Good point, Rizalist. Awesome post. Read the whole thing.