Navy officer Antonio Trillanes, the rebels' telegenic leader who is taking postgraduate classes in public administration, was left contemplating the prospect of court-martial after the day-long uprising collapsed Sunday.

"(Fell) short," was the withering one-word assessment of the mutiny by a source, who played a key role in some of a number of previous coup attempts in the 1980s that came close to toppling then president Corazon Aquino.

"They thought that the purity of their intentions will shine through and attract enough people who are genuinely interested in radical reforms," said the source, who asked not to be named.

"But they overestimated the power to attract. They are young, their idealism worked against them."

He said the rebels underestimated the importance of logistics "and other practical considerations," such as tactical alliances with personalities whose supporters would have provided rallying bases for the rebellion.

President Gloria Arroyo pre-empted the mutineers late Saturday by denouncing Trillanes and nine co-conspirators, branding dangerous deserters and ordering their arrest.

But instead of fading away, perhaps for a life in the underground, 70 junior officers led more than 200 of their men drawn from elite units of the Army and Navy and seized the center of the Makati financial district before dawn Sunday.

They booby-trapped the complex, issued a manifesto calling for wide-ranging reforms to rid the armed forces of alleged high-level corruption, and prepared a last stand.

But unlike in 1986, when millions of Filipino civilians rallied behind a group of junior military officers whose coup plot had been exposed by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, this time they stayed home and monitored the standoff on cable television. By Sunday night the uprising had fizzled out.

"What happened was, they waited for people to come out in support, but these crowds did not materialize," said the source, who asked not to be named.

"The period between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm was critical in coming up with the right number of people not necessarily in Makati but other areas that could have attracted attention."

National Defense College president Clarita Carlos concurred: "I'm sure they were banking on people supporting them."

But she rejected the suspicion the rebels were out to grab power for themselves. "They did not have the wherewithal to do that."

"He's a person committed to his job," University of the Philippines professor Vicky Bautista said of his student Trillanes, who wrote a thesis on corruption in the Navy. "He was so frustrated" at the government's failure to address these problems.

Interior Secretary Jose Lina insists their motive was not purely altruistic.

"These 296 soldiers did not act by themselves alone," Lina said. "There is a political angle here because they were demanding the resignation of President Gloria Arroyo. What can be more political than that?"

Trillanes and his men surrendered late Sunday.

"This country has no moral resolve to reform," the 32-year-old rebel said. "We deserve the government we get."

Arroyo said Sunday that "civilians shown to be involved in any conspiracy will be prosecuted."

Police have arrested a key aide of former president Joseph Estrada, accusing him of providing logistical support to the rebellion.

On trial for corruption, the detained Estrada has denied providing support to the mutineers.

Trillanes, the rebel leader, said he would quit soldiery and teach.

But local pundits suggested he should follow Senator Gregorio Honasan's career path.

Briefly jailed in the late 1980s for leading a series of deadly coup attempts against president Aquino, cashiered army colonel "Gringo" Honasan won a presidential pardon in 1993, was elected to the Senate, and is now running for president next year.

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