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Saturday, April 22, 2006
Rebel soldier bares power grab 'in coming days'
MANILA -- A group of mutinous military officers hinted of a plot to grab power "in the coming days" and confirmed it plans to pick former senator Gregorio Honasan to lead a transition council.
"In the coming days, the public is going to know, they are going to feel that what we are fighting for is still alive," said 1st Lieutenant Sonny Sarmiento, spokesman of a group calling itself the Makabayang Kawal Pilipino (MKP), in an interview by "Probe" aired over national television after midnight Friday.
Sarmiento was one of junior military officers jailed for their participation in the short-lived Oakwood Mutiny on July 27, 2003 but who escaped with four others from detention at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio last January 17.
He confirmed reports that they are known as the Magdalo Group or the MKP and they are composed of disgruntled officers and men linked to the failed plot to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's government last February 24.
The military and Malacañang belittled the group's plan, saying it is incapable of launching a successful coup against the government.
"We are the Makabayang Kawal Pilipino, is composed of soldiers and citizens whose intent is to pursue a genuine change," said Sarmiento, who was clad in camouflage uniform during the interview.
Of the four, including Sarmiento, who escaped from detention last January 17, only 1st Lieutenant Lawrence San Juan was rearrested on February 21 in Batangas.
Aside from Sarmiento and San Juan, the two others are Captain Nathaniel Rabonza and 1st Lieutenant Patricio Bumidang.
"We came out today to show to the people that we are still here, the junior officers whose principles could not be bought. We will continue to fight until we attain our overall objective," Sarmiento said.
"When that time comes, we are going to protect the people first before ourselves. We are following a timetable but for security reasons, you are going to know this in the following days," the officer added.
Sarmiento, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) class of 1998, said that as much as possible, they do not want to trade fire with fellow soldiers but if pushed to the limit, they are going to do what is needed to reform whet he called as government's "rotten system".
Military authorities had accused Honasan, a former Army colonel involved in the failed coups in the 1980s, of inciting the mutineers to take up arms and occupy the Oakwood Premier Apartment Hotel in July 2003.
The military had also said that the group planning the power grab wanted Honasan to lead the transition council if it had succeeded in toppling the Arroyo government in February 24. Erstwhile Scout Ranger commander Danilo Lim was supposed to have led the power grab.
On Honasan's role in their transition council, Sarmiento said: "We believe in his fight for genuine reforms in our government. At present, we are looking at him as a model and inspiration and based on our perception, he has the capability to be part of the transition council we are pursuing."
Honasan and several others have been subjects of a warrant of arrest for coup d'etat for their alleged role in the 2003 mutiny. The government has put up a bounty of P8 million for their arrest. Of the amount, P5 million is on Honasan's head.
Before the February 24 failed power grab, Honasan supposedly sent a note to communist leaders, proposing an alliance with them with the aim of bringing down the Arroyo administration.
The supposed alliance to overthrow the government was revealed by repentant Oakwood mutiny leader Captain Gerardo Gambala in a documentary released by Malacañang on Monday last week.
Sarmiento said they were disappointed by the pronouncements of Gambala but nevertheless respects his decision. He doubted Gambala's statements that communist guerillas had approached him sometime in December 2003 to discuss the plot.
"They (mutiny leaders) were in a maximum detention center in Isafp (Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines) in Camp Aguinaldo. Since they were isolated at the maximum detention cell, it would be impossible that he can be in contact with the left," he said.
On Gambala's claim that the Magdalo Group has allied itself with the communist group, Sarmiento said: "We are open to talks in the context of peace because even the government is talking with them (to attain peace)."
"Probe" also played a taped message by Rabonza, who apologized to the people for not coming out in the open when the people went to the streets last February 24 and February 26 to press for the resignation of Arroyo.
"We know that in the past, we have failed them because on February 24 and 26, they went out to the streets to protest and call for the resignation of Mrs. Arroyo but we were not able to join them because of events we did not anticipate," said Rabonza.
Commenting on Sarmiento's claims, military spokesman Jose Angel Honrado said the group was "noisy" but does not have "muscle".
In Malacañang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye assured the public that they are prepared to deal with the escaped mutineers.
Sarmiento, in the interview, called for the resignation of the Navy Chief Mateo Mayuga over the decision of a fact-finding committee he headed to clear four generals implicated in election fraud.
Mayuga, in his report, had cleared Army Chief Hermogenes Esperon, Southern Command (Southcom) Chief Gabriel Habacon, former Southern Command Roy Kyamko, and former 1st Marine Brigade chief Francisco Gudani in poll-rigging activities.
It was implied in the "Hello Garci" tapes that Esperon, Habacon and Kyamko worked to ensure Arroyo's victory during the 2004 presidential polls while Gudani supposedly supported an opponent of the President--the late movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. (VFR/JMR/Sunnex)
(April 22, 2006 issue)
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