‘Mutineers’ call on troops to break chain of command

02/16/2008

Two groups of soldiers accused separately of mutiny in 2003 and 2006 yesterday joined the voices of those calling for the resignation of President Arroyo on Ayala Avenue in Makati City from their cells in Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo and urged the troops to break away from Mrs. Arroyo.

While the 28 officers detained at the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) in Camp Aguinaldo called on soldiers to break the chain of command to liberate the people, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and 10 junior officers who are jailed in Camp Crame also called for the resignation of the President.

Nine Marines and 19 Scout Rangers officers led by Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, in a statement, declared that “as members of the AFP who have sworn to defend the Constitution and protect the Filipino people, we refuse to be cowed into silence and submission by a leadership anchored on thievery and deceit.”

The officers who are facing a general court martial for mutiny in connection with the alleged withdrawal of support for Mrs. Arroyo in February 2006, pointed to the truth behind the allegations of cheating in the 2004 elections.

“The events that transpired during the elections in 2004 have brought so much shame to the collective conscience of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines). A cabal of a few criminal elements in the Armed Forces led by Mister (AFP Chief of Staff General Hermogenes) Esperon has wrought so much misery to our country and people. The silence of the majority reinforced this misery. There will be no Esperons, no Abaloses, no Pidals, no Garcias, no Bolantes, no Garcillanos, no Bedols, no Neris if only there were more (NBN-ZTE star witness Rodolfo Noel) Lozadas,” the detained officers said in a statement (read by Miranda’s lawyer Atty. Frank Chavez before the crowd that gathered during yesterday’s rally held in Ayala.

The detained soldiers said Lozada has been liberated when he broke the chain of lies and deceit. “Our Armed Forces, whose chain-of-command has been used to cheat the people, lie to the people and oppress the people, has lost all its moral claim as protectors of the people in the eyes of (those) whom we seek to serve. It is now time to break that chain and liberate the Filipinos. In the words of Mr. Lozada, “let us keep whatever is left of our souls,” their statement read.

The mutineers said “To the Filipino people, we are one with you. Your aspirations are also ours. Your dreams are also our dreams. Your actions may well be one.”

Trillanes, Lim and 10 other officers in a signed statement handwritten in Pilipino, for their part, said even as they are behind bars at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame, they are with the people in “heart and spirit.”

“After having heard the revelations of Jun Lozada, on how corruption in Malacañang has taken a turn for the worse, we may now need to think what this means in our life and to the future of our children,” they said, adding “It’s time to decide! It’s time to take a stand, It’s time to choose a new leader. To all our countries leaders and all our citizens, join us in urging President Arroyo to resign. Let us carry on the fight for justice and truth. Let us continue the fight for the country.”

On top of riot police, military troops and armored vehicles arrived in Metro Manila yesterday to beef up security as protesters gathered in Ayala Avenue in Makati’s central business district to demand the ouster of the President over allegations of her husband and allies’ involvement in the anomalous $329-million ZTE-national broadband deal.

The military convoy consisted of two armored personnel carriers, a trailer truck loaded with a battle tank, a 6 x 6 truckload of soldiers, a car and a pick up truck, AFP officials said in a statement.

AFP-National Capital Region Command (NCRCom) said the additional troops from Camp O’ Donnel in Capas, Tarlac were to complement soldiers and policemen in Metro Manila.

Capt. Carlo Ferrer, NCRCom public information officer, said reports that communist rebels may take advantage of the protests prompted the deployment of military forces.

For its part, the PNP disclosed the deployment of at least 2,000 Civil Disturbance Management operatives as the whole country was put on red alert at 5 p.m. yesterday, in view of supposed intelligence reports of an assassination plot against Mrs. Arroyo and the holding of the opposition protests.

PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. said police intelligence units are gathering information following verification of the assassination plot against the President.

A huge crowd gathered yesterday in Makati’s central business district to demand the ouster of Mrs. Arroyo.

Protesters, including former Vice-President Teofisto Guingona, lawyers, nuns and priests, urban poor, students and labor groups marched to Makati from different origins carrying placards saying “moderate your greed, exterminate your breed” and a number of banners displaying the President in compromising situations.

Despite the huge turnout at the rally, organizers said it could have been a bigger if not for the systematic schemes employed by government forces that stopped the provincial participants from entering Metro Manila.

Rally organizers claimed many vehicles ferrying demonstrators from the provinces were barred from entering Metro Manila as they were stopped along military checkpoints both at the South and North Luzon expressways.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño, for his part, said yesterday’s street protests is but “a start of renewed efforts by a wide range of political and advocacy groups to make the Arroyo government accountable for its high crimes of corruption, human rights violations and plunder of the nation’s coffers.”

“The people joining today’s peaceful but militant mass action in Makati come from across the political spectrum and all walks of life. It will show to the world the initial surge of people who are fed up with the corrupt Arroyo administration,” Casiño said.

Vencer Crisostomo, national chairman of the League of the Filipino Students, said they have been doing room to room discussions and teach-ins in the campuses calling for the youth to show disgust at the rotten regime.

Youth group Anakbayan also renewed calls for Mrs. Arroyo’s ouster as it linked up with other people’s organizations during the protest.

The group said the overwhelming youth participation in the rally signals the escalation of more youth protests in the days to come.

Alvin Peters of the National Union of Students of the Philippines said they are contemplating the possibility of a national students boycott of classes to press the President’s resignation.

“There is an overwhelming urge among students nationwide to collectively and as a sector express their indignation against corruption. We will announce in due time if it pushes through,” he said.

Peters added that student representatives would troop to the Senate on Monday to attend the ongoing ZTE hearings. Daily lunchtime protests are also scheduled in different schools next week.

As protests bombarded the Arroyo administration, the Chief Executive’s allies in local government units warned her critics against “impeding on progress being felt” in the regions by staging unconstitutional moves to oust her.

Governors, mayors and congressmen, mostly belonging to Lakas-CMD, assailed leaders of the political opposition for instigating protest actions “as a means of cutting short” Mrs. Arroyo’s term of office.

Led by Davao del Sur Gov. Douglas Cagas, provincial governors asked the Senate to end the on-going NBN probe, saying the blue ribbon hearings have been turned into a staging forum for presidential wannabes.

Cagas, together with Governors Rogerlio Espina (Biliran); Jum Akbar (Basilan); Efren Pinol (North Cotabato) and Jojo Beltran (Romblon), said they strongly believe that there is truth to reports of an alleged plot to assassinate the Chief Executive, as a means of cutting short her term. Gina Peralta-Elorde, Allan A. Bergonia, Ben Gines, Jr. and Charlie V. Manalo with AFP

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