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Thursday, August 14, 2003
Arroyo kept on yakking, mutineer testifies
MANILA -- A mutiny in the country last month was mounted by junior military officers to force the resignation of President Arroyo and military top brass, two of the alleged rebel leaders testified Wednesday.
Two weeks before the mutiny, President Arroyo had a chance to hear the soldiers' grievances but, said Navy Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV, berated him instead.
In his first public appearance since the mutiny, Trillanes testified in Camp Aguinaldo before the independent Feliciano Commission and was at one point reprimanded for insulting President Arroyo.
"She just kept on yakking and yakking," the officer said. "I cannot find the words to describe how arrogant our President was."
Both Trillanes and Army Capt. Milo Maestrecampo acknowledged that the rebels had publicly sought Arroyo's resignation, but denied government allegations they wanted to install a 15-member junta.
Trillanes, who testified the whole morning, also denied they wanted to reinstate detained former president Joseph Estrada or put opposition Sen. Gregorio Honasan in power.
A senior Arroyo aide testified before the commission on Tuesday that the rebels planned to assassinate Arroyo in an Aug. 4 coup attempt that would have replaced her with a junta led by Honasan.
Terror plot
The July 27 rebellion collapsed within 24 hours after failing to muster wider support. More than 300 rebels were arrested.
Asked if he personally wanted to replace Arroyo, Trillanes said: "Definitely not."
He said the rebels would have respected the "constitutional succession," with the Vice President taking over.
Trillanes said the rebels wanted to implement the National Recovery Program, Honasan's political platform, to rid the military and the government of corruption. It calls for "all brigadier generals upwards (to be) relieved."
"The initial beneficiaries of this thing would be the most senior colonels. You can count with the fingers of one hand the morally upright generals in the Armed Forces," Trillanes said. "If we remove everybody, at least that is a big step."
Maestrecampo, for his part, alleged the government was sponsoring terrorism in an attempt to win more military aid from the United States.
He said he had personally rejected an order from his commander to form a military team to attack a mosque in Davao City in April, which would then be blamed on Muslim rebels.
Trillanes, who denies the rebellion received civilian funding, said he was summoned to see Arroyo in Malacaņang on July 13 because he was suspected as the "leader of a group that intended to destabilize the government."
Not detained
But rather than accept evidence of military corruption, "she went on berating me and ordered me detained and paraded through the media for reasons I cannot really comprehend."
Arroyo's aides accused Trillanes of lying.
"There was never an instance the President gave an instruction to detain him," Presidential Security Group (PSG) Chief Delfin Bangit told reporters.
Bangit presented two photos supposedly taken on June 13, showing what appeared to be Senator Honasan and Trillanes in a meeting with about 10 others.
Bangit said the photos were handed to him by a walk-in informant last week and authorities are planning to present these as evidence once authenticated.
Trillanes seemed taken aback when shown the photos but continued to deny any knowledge of any blood compact conducted by the Magdalo group weeks before the coup.
Bangit and Trillanes' classmate, Capt. Cris Magdangal, also a PSG member, detailed in a press briefing the minutes of their meeting with President Arroyo in the early morning of July 13.
"The President never berated him. The President even commended him for his idealism and advised him not to be like Gringo," said Magdangal.
Proper forum
In a teleconference with the Senate reporters, Honasan denied he was the one in the photograph presented before the Feliciano Commission and reiterated that he never attended a meeting with the junior officers.
"I will answer the charges in the proper time and in the proper forum," Honasan said.
According to Trillanes, he first met Honasan in March last year at the senator's office when he presented his thesis papers detailing corruption in the Philippine Navy.
On the short-lived mutiny in Makati, Trillanes said he and another junior officer involved in the uprising were already in place at apartments in Makati four days before the actual incident.
He said what happened was spontaneous and that most of the plans were improvised on the day of the mutiny itself.
Trillanes also denied being one of the leaders of the failed mutiny, but said he was chosen as the group's spokesperson during the siege at the hotel in Makati.
He also berated the NBI for alleging that most of the equipment they used during the siege were bought using funds donated by outside forces, claiming these were materials left behind by US forces. AFP/PNA/Sunnex Luzon
(August 13, 2003 issue)
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