Philippine newspapers salute mutineering soldiers as heroes

Media commentaries praise the leading officers as idealistic, even if misguided

Mutineers who demanded the overthrow of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at gunpoint have turned into media celebrities overnight.

Newspapers have splashed with photos of 10 leading renegade officers and devoted entire spreads to the men who held the nation hostage for a day.

'Ever idealistic,' said one gushing write-up describing the class of 1995 from the Philippine Military Academy, which produced six of the 10 leading officers of the rebellion. Other articles called the coup plotters 'elite but misguided', 'battle-tested' and, again, 'idealistic'.

The rebel spokesman, navy Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes, was described as 'boyish-looking', 'the best and brightest in the military', 'brilliant, dangerous' and 'always at the frontline where the action is'. He had written a masters thesis on corruption in the procurement of naval supplies and had received death threats for his efforts, the press noted.

The articles all stressed these were battle-tested field officers of elite units, who fought the most dangerous of enemies - the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, which did not hesitate to behead enemies.