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Friday, November 30, 2007
Curfew enforced in Metro Manila, other Luzon areas
MANILA –- The government enforced a curfew following a standoff Thursday afternoon at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City perpetrated by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and the Magdalo soldiers.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to impose a curfew from 12 midnight of Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday.
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The Manila Peninsula Hotel will remain closed as authorities are still gathering evidences of the incident there. Hotel guests, on the other hand, will be allowed to get their things on Friday morning.
Trillanes and Army Brigadier General Danilo Lim led some Magdalo soldiers in walking out of the hearing of their coup d’etat case at the sala of Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Oscar Pimentel. They holed up in the hotel and called on the people to join their call for the resignation of the President.
They later surrendered to the policemen who were then implementing arrest warrants issued by Judge Pimentel against them for contempt.
Follow-up operations
DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno Jr. said the curfew, which they are hoping would be limited to just a day, would be imposed in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) region or Region 4-A for “follow-up operations.”
Puno said the curfew would apply to everyone but a set of guidelines would be released to the PNP to ensure the proper imposition of the curfew and the putting up of checkpoints.
He added that everyone who needs to be out during the curfew hours would have to bring identification cards and avoid bringing any deadly weapon whether licensed or unlicensed lest they be invited for questioning.
Puno said public utility vehicle operations would need to stop during these period including bus operations that operate “midnight shifts.”
PNP Chief Avelino Razon Jr. said the curfew would be imposed by policemen aided by soldiers.
According to Razon, the transport industry, call center workers, and people who travel at night are exempted from the curfew.
He said as much as possible, the PNP does not want curfew to be imposed in Metro Manila, in Region 4-A, and Central Luzon but they have to do this “as we conduct follow-up operations against the Magdalo.”
101 arrested
The PNP chief said 101 people were arrested at the hotel in Makati, Manila's business district, and that more were being sought. He said several documents were found there "that support the theory that this is a well-planned activity."
"There are other components... and we are pursuing the other groups that might try to continue to implement their plans," Razon said.
Two people were injured during the assault.
A leader of the dissident officers agreed to leave peacefully to avoid bloodshed.
"There's no loss here," said Trillanes, a former navy officer who was elected to the Senate in May, campaigning from detention. "We just did what has to be done. It is tantamount to treason if I don't do anything. If somebody lost here, it's the whole nation."
The arrested military group and their civilian sympathizers - including former Vice President Teofisto Guingona - were led to waiting police buses. Several journalists were among those who were detained.
Quick resolution
The President lauded the police and the military for its quick resolution of the standoff at the Manila Peninsula Hotel and ordered authorities to get rid of any remaining threat to peace and order.
She said the full force of the law would be imposed on those involved in the standoff, adding that the trial of the rebels would continue “until the end and in accordance with the law.”
Arroyo said additional charges are being readied against those responsible for the crime.
She offered reassurances that the government is stable and claimed the military is loyal to her.
"Again and again we have shown to the world the stability of the institutions of our democracy and the strength of this government," she said on national television.
"Wrong and misguided deeds of the few do not speak for the people or the army and police," Arroyo added. "The full force of the law will be meted out without any concession."
Arroyo said the Armed Forces chain of command remains intact and the soldiers and policemen continue with their patriotic service to the country.
15-20 personalities
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said the government would go after 15 to 20 personalities and private groups who maybe behind the latest “situation” in Makati City.
Gonzales declined to name names pending verification of the list and the actual involvement of these persons or groups.
He added that there were “new faces” involved in the incident –- those who were not present in the 2006 failed coup attempt.
Gonzales did not say what cases would be filed against the private individuals or civilians involved.
But Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales said sedition or inciting to sedition charges maybe among the cases that would be considered against the private individuals.
Apostol, however, shrugged off possibilities that former Vice President Guingona could be among the individuals to be charged claiming that aside from exercising his right, the former Vice President is already above 70 years old, which qualifies him for executive clemency.
He said Trillanes, aside from the current charges of coup d’etat, is now facing contempt charges for walking out of the court proceedings.
According to him, Trillanes and his other co-accused in the coup charges, “walked out” because they felt that the evidence against them are strong.
Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., for his part, said more troops have been poured into Metro Manila. He asked the public not to be alarmed by the deployment of more soldiers to the metropolis.
“They should not be alarmed, but we expect one battalion coming from the North that will come in tonight (Thursday),” Esperon said.
‘People power’
Joined by other dissident officers and leaders from the opposition and the left, the coup defendants clearly were trying to foster the Philippines' third "people power" revolt, making phone calls and sending cell phone text messages seeking to generate crowds to support them.
But as the day wore on and hotel guests were evacuated, few people turned out for the latest effort to oust Arroyo, who has survived at least three coup plots and three impeachment efforts during nearly seven tumultuous years in power.
Asked if he had a message for Arroyo, Trillanes said: "Sooner or later, the time of reckoning will come."
The trial for Trillanes and his co-defendants is over a 2003 insurrection in which troops briefly commandeered a shopping center and hotel, demanded Arroyo's ouster and denounced government and military corruption, but were accused of staging a failed coup. They surrendered after the daylong uprising.
Escorted by military police, who apparently did not prevent them from leaving the court, Trillanes’s group marched to the Peninsula hotel, pushed away guards at the entrance, and set up a command center in a second-floor function room. Armed guards were set up on stairways from the lobby.
Lim issued a statement urging Arroyo to resign and asking the Armed Forces to withdraw support for her.
"Mrs. Arroyo stole the presidency from Estrada, and later manipulated the results of 2004 elections," Lim said.
Arroyo took over when President Joseph Estrada was ousted in the second "people power" revolt in January 2001, and opponents have criticized the legitimacy of her rule ever since. She also has been fighting allegations that she rigged the 2004 elections that gave her a six-year term.
After agreeing to surrender, Trillanes said he was convinced that other officers in the always-restive military are fed up with government corruption and won't stay quiet.
"Eventually it will be their turn to live up to their mandate as protectors of the people," he said. (AP/JMR/VR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Davao. (November 30, 2007 issue)
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