AMID COUP TALK, NOY HIT AS WEAK LEADER / PALACE ON P5-M CHECK: NO TREASON
[PHOTO - REUTERS - A Catholic priest sprinkles holy water on one of 15 caskets of soldiers killed on a troubled southern island upon their arrival at the Villamor air base in Pasay city, metro Manila October 21, 2011]
MANILA, OCTOBER 29, 2011 (STANDARD) by Florante S. Solmerin and John Concepcion - President draws flak for criticizing and gagging the military while the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is free to accuse it of cease-fire violations
ADMINISTRATION allies on Wednesday played down reports of military restiveness over the government's response to the killing of 19 soldiers by Moro rebels in Basilan last week, but Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. blasted President Benigno Aquino III for his weak leadership.
"It's not surprising there will be disgruntled soldiers considering their supposed commander-in-chief is not only not leading and not supporting them, but views them with contempt and arrogance," Marcos said in a text message to reporters.
"As I've said before, he's not a true leader, which is why nobody is following him and why some might oppose him. All this trouble is his own doing, and he has no one to blame but himself."
On Tuesday, the President ordered the intelligence community to monitor the groups that supposedly have been using the Basilan deaths to fuel coup rumors and to agitate the military.
National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia said some groups had been sending text messages to the military to fuel discontent, but declined to give more details.
A retired Navy officer who was involved in several coups in the past on Wednesday confirmed that some people within the military were trying to instigate a power grab, but any attempt would not succeed.
Rex Robles said talk of a coup surfaced after Mr. Aquino scolded the military for operational lapses at a command conference following the Basilan killings and sacked a military spokesman for speaking his mind.
"The problem with Aquino is that he has been criticizing and gagging the military after the soldiers were killed, while the other side, the Moro rebels, keep talking and saying it was the soldiers who had attacked. It looks like the President has lost his balance," he said.
Still, Robles said the sentiment within the military ranks was not strong enough for a coup attempt to prosper.
Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Staff Jose Mabanta Jr. dismissed talk of a coup, saying the military had learned its lessons from past attempts.
"The Armed Forces' chain of command is intact and very professional," he said.
"There is no place for agitators or instigators of a coup or any destabilization attempt in the Armed forces."
A former coup leader who was pardoned by President Aquino, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, confirmed there were coup rumors circulating among members of the Armed Forces, but said he doubted those would go beyond talk.
He said President Aquino should allow the Armed Forces to pursue the MILF gunmen who were behind the Basilan killings as a way to "ease restiveness" within the military.
Another Aquino ally, former Armed Forces chief and now Muntilupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, denied there was any demoralization within the military ranks, saying he would be the first to know if that were true.
He said the coup rumors were being fueled by groups outside the Armed Forces who had their own political motives.
House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte also dismissed the coup rumors. "I don't believe it," he said. With Maricel Cruz
Palace quizzed on P5m check for MILF
STANDARD - PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III will ask the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to account for the P5-million fund that the government gave to the rebels, an official said Wednesday.
"The government, through [chief negotiator] Marvic Leonen, is asking for accountability," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
"We will be expecting some report on the outcome of the P5 million and where it went. We hope the MILF will clarify this part."
Lacierda said the amount was supposed to be used to establish the Bangsamoro Management and Leadership Institute to "train future Bangsamoro leaders."
Government chief negotiator Marvic Leonen turned over the P5 million check to MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim during the formal exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 23.
Leonen, in a separate statement, dismissed reports that the money was used to buy guns and ammunition "as alleged by a malicious text message."
In the House, lawmakers on Wednesday questioned the President's decision to give the MILF P5 million.
"What will stop other armed groups from seeking government funds in the guise of social reform?" Zambales Rep. Maria Milagros Magsaysay said.
Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño laughed off Lacierda's statement that the Palace would ask MILF chief Al Haj Murad Ebrahim to account for the amount.
"In the first place, why give money to the rebels?" he said.
"Murad is not a government official to be made to account for the P5 million. He is outside of the law and is in fact waging war against the government. It should be the Palace that should account for the public funds that they issued to the rebels. They should explain where the money went." Joyce Pangco Pañares, Christine F. Herrera
FROM MANILA BULLETIN
Palace: No treason, Fends off flak over aid to MILF By GENALYN D. KABILING October 28, 2011, 6:34pm
MANILA, Philippines — President Benigno S. Aquino III did not betray public trust or commit treason that would warrant his impeachment in the wake of the furor over the administration's P5-million assistance to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Malacañang said Friday.
In a news conference, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the release of the funds was lawful, insisting that the money was meant for the formation of the Bangsamoro Leadership and Management Institute (BLMI), a commitment of the government in the peace process.
He said the funds for the BLMI are "not for armed conflict" but "for political and social development." "There is no betrayal of public trust, there is no treason here," Lacierda said.
The spokesman also said that despite the flak over the fund aid, the President has no plans to dismiss his peace adviser, Teresita Deles, or the government peace panel, saying he still has trust and confidence in the team.
Lacierda said it was the previous government, that proposed the BLMI, a training center for young Muslim leaders, during peace negotiations in 2007. Deles resigned as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's peace adviser in 2005.
"It is clear that the President has confidence on Secretary Deles and Marvic Leonen. Many groups have called for an all-out war but the President was very categorical that he wants all-out justice and he wants peace. There is no better alternative to peace," Lacierda said.
He said the government has asked the MILF for a full accounting of the P5 million given by Leonen to the rebel leadership during talks last July.
Asked where the money came from, Lacierda said he only knows that it did not come from the Office of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, but would ask Deles.
The peace adviser earlier claimed the money came from the President's social fund.
A party-list lawmaker reportedly warned that the President could be impeached after giving public funds to the rebel group even without a final peace agreement. The donation was supposedly tantamount to treason.
Other legislators have suggested that Aquino reshuffle his government peace panel for giving him the wrong advice.
President Aquino has declared an "all-out justice" campaign against lawless elements and their coddlers in Mindanao, brushing aside proposals for a full-blown war against the Muslim separatist rebels.
Aquino's directives came after 19 soldiers were killed in a clash with outlaws and rebels in Basilan.
Several more soldiers were killed in subsequent rebel attacks in Zamboanga Sibugay and Lanao del Norte.
Citizen's Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna also said giving P5-million aid to the MILF does not constitute betrayal of public trust.
"The decision of the executive department to assist in the training, education, and development of future Muslim leaders espousing for peace, can never be a betrayal of public trust because the purpose of the aid is for advancement and progress, not to aid the enemy," Tugna explained.
"There is nothing illegal in allotting funds to achieve peace. Raising the issue of impeachment is an absurdity because the aid was given precisely to build the capacity of our Moro brothers to change their mindset in achieving their advocacy, that is, through peaceful means," he added.
The aid to the MILF's Bangsamoro Leadership and Management Institute (BLMI), which was announced as early as August when the government peace panel held a video conference, came under fire recently following the military's clash with forces identified with the MILF that led to the death of 33 people, including government troopers.
Palace officials said the BLMI is "envisioned to be a center of excellence and a repository of knowledge in the discipline of human resource development that produces ideologically oriented individuals of impeccable character equipped with exemplary leadership and managerial qualities for the transformation of the Bangsamoro people."
"A call for impeachment is baseless and absurd. Right now, as we speak, our soldiers are risking their lives to fight lawlessness and terrorism in war-ravaged areas in the country, the last we need are confusing ideas and judgment that feed and stoke further confusion," Tugna said.
Earlier, Sen. Francis Escudero said the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) should explain where it sourced the P5 million given to th MILF.
Escudero said Malacañang's admission that it gave such funds to the rebel group during its last peace negotiations in Kuala Lumpur is only raising more questions that need to be answered.
"I question and I yearn for an answer from OPAPP. Where did this fund come from? To whom did they charge the money? And what exactly is it for? Because if the account is in the name of the MILF, then it means the recipient and the beneficiary are the MILF themselves," Escudero said at a weekly press conference at the Senate.
"And the next question is, (other than the P5 million) did the OPAPP give other funds to the MILF and other rebel groups that they have talked to? Tama siguro yung sinasabi nila na ginigisa nila sa sariling mantika dahil galing mismo sa pondo ng gobyerno yung pinang gigisa sa atin," the Senate Committee on Human Rights and Justice chairman added. (With reports from Rio Rose Ribaya and Hannah L. Torregoza)
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