Saturday, March 31, 2007 Coup plotter seeks Congress seat
A MILITARY officer who led a number of failed coups in the 1980s against the administration of then President Corazon Aquino is running in the upcoming May elections for congressman in La Union under the administration's Team Unity.
Retired Army Colonel Abraham Purugganan, one of the founders of the shadowy Young Officers Union (YOU), filed his certificate of candidacy before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in San Fernando City, La Union.
Purugganan vowed to institute reforms in the military and in the politics as well as in education, agriculture and health if he wins in his bid for the second congressional district seat of La Union.
A former Scout Ranger officer, Purruganan believes that his comrades in the YOU would support his candidacy in whatever way they can.
Purugganan was a key figure in the formation of YOU, which provided the muscle to the then Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) during coups in the late 1980s against the Aquino administration.
Incidentally, two other co-founders of the group led last year's failed power grab against the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. They are erstwhile First Scout Ranger Regiment commander Danilo Lim and bemedalled Marine Colonel Ariel Querubin. Lim and Querubin are detained in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, facing court martial proceedings in connection with the failed plot to overthrow Arroyo.
Purugganan resigned from the military service after his group signed the peace agreement with government. It is believed that the group has seized to exist since it signed a peace accord with the government in the 1990s.
Purugganan is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1978, which has adopted President Arroyo and Lim as honorary members. Lim, an original member of the PMA Class 1977, graduated from the US Military Academy in 1978. (VR/Sunnex)
