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Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Army officer linked to coup nabbed (12:20 p.m.)
MANILA -- Government troops have arrested a young officer accused of planning an attack on army headquarters during a February coup plot that the government quashed, the army chief said Wednesday.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon on Wednesday presented Army Captain Dante Langkit, who belongs to a special operations command.
Langkit was arrested Sunday by army intelligence operatives near a restaurant in Manila's suburban Quezon City in a continuing military manhunt of officers and civilians allegedly involved in the failed Feb. 20 coup plan, Esperon said.
"Langkit was supposed to lead forces that would attack and take over the Philippine army headquarters," Esperon told a news conference.
Nearly 100 soldiers have been investigated in connection with the coup plot, which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said was backed by communist guerrillas and civilian financiers and could have destroyed democracy in the Philippines had it triumphed.
Esperon presented Langkit in handcuffs to military chief of staff Gen. Generoso Senga during the news conference. As cameras flashed, Senga stood and faced Langkit, telling him, "You'll undergo our due process." Langkit blankly nodded.
The Army chief said Langkit recruited soldiers to take over the Army's headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, however one of the officers recruited by the latter reported the activities to his superior officer.
Langkit, Esperon said has been on absence without official leave (Awol) since January 17, the day the 4 officers of the Magdalo group escaped from detention in Fort Bonifacio.
According to Esperon, Langkit was part of the group that planned the Oakwood mutiny in July 2003, when it failed he allegedly met with members of the Communist Part of the Philippines in Pampanga in September 2003.
Esperon has recommended that army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and 19 other officers face a court martial for their alleged role in the plot. Senga said he has formed a team to review the recommendation.(AP/Sunnex) |
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