he Mutiny ended as quickly as it started. At around eleven AM on November 29th Neophyte Senator Antonio Trillanes, and other members of the Magdalo group who are all on trial for sedition, suddenly walked out of the courtroom and marched to the Manila Peninsula Hotel. They were joined along the way by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, himself accused of plotting to overthrow the government, and Bishop Labayen, an aging cleric.

General Lim read a prepared statement enumerating the Arroyo administration scandals from "Hello Garci" to "NBN-ZTE." What raised a few eyebrows was the specific mention of President Estrada as the legitimate president and how Gloria Arroyo had illegally grabbed it from him. This has lead many to wonder whether Estrada and his money was behind today's action. If Philippine government investigators are up to the task, we'll all know very soon. Click here to visit the rebel soldiers' website and read their manifestos.

Trillanes and company's though talk at the start, about standing their ground, along with insinuations of dying for their cause, quickly vanished as tear gas was lobbed into the hotel lobby by government forces. In the end, feigning concern that civilians might be caught in the crossfire, this group of misguided mutineers meekly surrendered and were escorted in handcuffs—their tails between their legs—onto a military bus and into the custody of the authorities.

It was a mutiny that lasted all of half a day. It seemed to be a complete waste of the time and limited resources of Philippine military and police authorities. It was poorly planned and executed, and achieved nothing other than inconvenience a few hotel guests and scare away a lot of foreign investors.