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Monday, August 25, 2003
Firearms cache ‘found’ in Trillanes’ property
MANILA -- Police have recovered a cache of ammunition and explosive materials allegedly belonging to one of the leaders of a failed military uprising last month, officials said Sunday.
But lawyers for Lieutenant Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes denied that the military items belonged to him, accusing the government of planting evidence.
The cache was discovered in a village in suburban Novaliches north of Manila at a property police said was owned by Trillanes, who is now detained a military camp along with five other alleged ring-leaders of the mutiny.
The items were found in a shallow ditch and consisted of rounds of machine gun ammunition, electric blasting caps and parts of an anti-tank weapon.
Armbands
Also found were red armbands similar to those worn by the mutineers, a list of names of military personnel and a truck, police said.
Police said the items would be used as evidence against the mutineers, who have been charged with rebellion in a civilian court but also faces a separate court martial.
Trillanes’ lawyer, Argee Guevarra, accused the government of fabricating evidence against his client.
Planted
“I just talked to him. He said these are not just planted evidence but garbage evidence,” Guevarra said, stressing that the property where the cache was discovered did not even belong to Trillanes.
Trillanes, along with other junior officers, led more than 300 soldiers in occupying a portion of the Makati financial district in Manila on July 27.
They had demanded the resignation of President Arroyo and other top military officials and charged them with corruption. The siege, however, fizzled out after it failed to gather public sympathy.
The government maintains the mutiny was part of a larger plot to assassinate Arroyo and replace her with a 15-man junta to be led by opposition Senator Gregorio Honasan. Honasan, a former army colonel, has gone into hiding but has denied the accusation.
Deputy presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said government did not have anything to do with the discovery of the evidence, stressing that the police investigation was independent.
He said the military remained on alert to quell any threats from within its ranks, as he dismissed press reports that certain factions were continuing to recruit soldiers for another coup plot. (AFP)
(August 25, 2003 issue)
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