DIVULGED / COUP PLANS INIMICAL TO PROGRESS
[PHOTO - THE ARMED FORCES
OF THE PHILIPPINES]
MANILA,
MARCH 14, 2012 (STANDARD) by
Joyce Pangco Pañares and Florencio P. Narito - NATIONAL Security Adviser Cesar
Garcia confirmed receiving a list of coup plotters who have been recruiting
people to join a bid to overthrow President Benigno C. Aquino III.
But Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Jessie Dellosa
has dismissed all the destabilization talks against the Aquino administration as
mere disinformation, saying that they have no value unless validated by the
intelligence community.
Garcia declined to divulge the names of the coup plotters included in the
so-called "Trillanes list" provided by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
But he admitted that while there was the intention to launch a coup, "there
is a difference between intention and capability," adding that the plotters were
not able to recruit any supporter from the Armed Forces.
"Still, we remain vigilant in monitoring any possible security threat,"
Garcia said.
For his part, Dellosa brushed off the report from Trillanes. "Regarding the
destabilization report of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, I would like to assure you
that the AFP is a professional organization, we are solid, we are intact. I
suspect that politics could be behind these text messages," he said.
Dellosa said that in the first 18 months of the Aquino presidency, the AFP
had already received P28 billion. "Our priority now is for external defense," he
said.
The Armed Forces has been procuring naval and air assets. Last week, the
Philippine Air Force received four helicopters from Poland, with four more
scheduled for delivery, Dellosa added.
He revealed that the AFP has a procurement program for 28 projects to be
delivered in July.
Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Trillanes list
contained "the usual suspects" but did not elaborate.
"The President informed me that Senator Trillanes mentioned the usual
suspects and that the recruitment has not made any traction on the AFP rank and
file," Lacierda said.
"The President did not mention who they were, only the 'usual suspects' who
want to maintain the status quo," the Palace official added. Trillanes said the
list he submitted to the President and to Garcia contained less than 10 names.
FROM MANILA TIMES
Coup plans, coup talk inimical to progress
Published : Wednesday, March 07, 2012 00:00 Article Views : 980
NEWS that some ex-military officers are plotting to launch a coup
against President Benigno Aquino 3rd was triggered by statements from the Palace
last week.
The President himself had disclosed that some influential groups were
plotting to kill him. But he denied what the dailies published about a military
coup plot against him.
Yesterday, the Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda dismissed the rumors of
a coup being cooked up by retired military generals. He said the men and women
of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were all loyal to the
Commander-In-Chief.
The AFP command had earlier issued a statement reaffirming the military's
loyalty to the President.
But it was baffling—and it added to the mystery of why the President himself
had hinted that there was a coup plot or a plot to kill him—that the AFP HQ
issued a statement that it did not know anything about any coup plot.
The Philippine National Police leadership's avowal of ignorance has also been
mysterious.
If Senator Antonio Trillanes 4th could learn about the plot,
AFP and PNP intelligence must be so bad not to know about it.
Senators confirm plot to oust Aquino We believe the revelations made by
Senator Antonio Trillanes 4th. We think it is true that some Armed Forces
personnel had discreetly told him that they had been approached by former
military officials to persuade them to join the plot to oust President Aquino.
The people fomenting the coup, Sen. Trillanes said, were using the old
anti-Communist line. They were warning the military men they were trying to
persuade that the Aquino government was already infiltrated by communist
ideologues.
Apparently, to give credibility to their red-scare message, the coup plotters
had fed the media the false news that Jose Maria Sison had come home from exile
in Utrecht, the Netherlands, to hold talks with the Aquino administration about
being appointed to the Cabinet. "Joma" Sison is the current principal political
consultant of the National Democratic Front. He is believed by all (on the basis
of military allegations) to be the founder of the Marxist-Leninist Mao Zedong
Thought-guided Communist Party of the Philippines that gave new life to the
Communist rebellion after the original party collapsed.
Sen. Trillanes' revelations include his assessment that the coup plotters
have failed to attract any sizable number of recruits. He said the fact that
some of them told him about the campaign and the dinners held to size up and
identify possible recruits indicates that the coup plan was not successful.
Sen. Trillanes, an ally of President Aquino, is credible about these things.
He had led two military mutinies but received a pardon from the President. His
winning a Senate seat despite having campaigned from his detention cell is
remarkable.
But not only Sen. Trillanes was the source of the coup plot information.
Another ally of the President, Sen. Panfilo Lacson also confirmed reports that
there was a coup plot.
He said he had received intelligence reports about it and he even knew the
names of the personalities in the coup plot. But he also said he could not
divulge those names because the information he got still needed to be verified.
Palace reassures itself Secretary Lacierda's statement yesterday sounded like
the Palace needed to reassure itself that Commander-in-Chief Aquino indeed had
the loyalty of the soldiery.
He said the soldiers had no reasons to stage an uprising since no less than
the President himself had pushed for increases in benefits for them—like housing
and higher salaries and combat pay.
He also said that housing benefits "are now being extended to the soldiers in
the Visayas and Mindanao." We had always thought the benefits the President
announced last year were being given to all Filipino soldiers wherever they
were.
About the coup plotters being retired officers, Mr. Lacierda said: "We have
to remind the retired officials that the AFP is now a professional organization.
This is no longer the organization that they were used to," he said.
CBCP head urges Filipinos to ignore coup rumors The advice given by the
president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines—who was quoted
by Jocelyn R. Uy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer in her story after
interviewing the prelate—is to ignore these coup rumors.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, the CBCP head, said, "I just hope that people
won't be susceptible into believing that such report is true and if there really
is such a plan. This doesn't show love at all for the country … it's not the way
to hope for change."
What the good Archbishop Palma surely meant is that coups won't do our
country any good. They only serve to subvert the work of eradicating massive
poverty by eradicating corruption (which is the Aquino administration's thrust).
Therefore, anyone invited to join such a move against the government should
reject it it.
We do think that the AFP command and the PNP should go after the people
fomenting a coup—even if these are retired officers.
Whatever the failings of the Aquino administration, it is the patriotic duty
of all citizens to help in keeping our country politically stable.
Coup d'etat attempts—just as calls for People Power action against on-trial
Chief Justice Renato Corona—are inimical to Philippine progress.
Destabilization plot just propaganda Published :
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 00:00 Article Views : 127
[PHOTO - EMBLEM OF THE Armed Forces of the Philippines /Sandatahang
Lakas ng Pilipinas]
MANILA TIMES - DESTABILIZATION is a serious issue. However, it is not
surprising news for us. Ever since, the former presidents of the Philippines and
even the presidents of other countries experience this kind of issue.
According to those who know about it, the destabilization plots are mostly
done by the military. Some of this is possibly true. But some of the
destabilization scare announcement are possibly propaganda.
Today, another destabilization issue is up-rising in the administration of
PNoy.
According to the news, two retired generals are behind the destabilization
plot against PNoy. But a serious study of the matter will show that
destabilization in his administration is impossible.
Soldiers had already learned their lessons from the past destabilization
efforts. They have already realized that destabilization against the President
is not an easy job.
Conducting destabilization is sacrificing your family, your profession, your
life.
I do believe that the people of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are
really true and sincere to what they have pledged. The AFP is always being true
and loyal to the President and to the government.
So I do believe that this kind of destabilization plot issue, which the
President himself announced and the AFP denied knowing anything about, is just
propaganda.
Carmelita R. Suarez Lipa, Batangas
suarezcarmelita@rocketmail.com
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
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