GENERAL TO TRILLANES: YOU HAVE IMMUNITY SO, NAME NAMES
[LAST YEAR PHOTO - Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said on
February 16, 2011Tuesday that their tradition of respecting upperclassmen in the
Philippine Military Academy (PMA) has exception. He defended himself because
fellow PMA alumni condemned him after maltreating the late former military chief
Angelo Reyes during a Senate hearing.]
MANILA, MARCH 9, 2012 (STANDARD) by Florante S. Solmerin - A
RETIRED general on Tuesday challenged the pro-administration Senator Antonio
Trillanes IV to name names after he claimed that retired generals were
recruiting active officers to join a coup against President Benigno Aquino III.
"Tell him to name names. He has immunity," retired Gen. Raul Urgello,
president and chairman of the Association of Generals and Flag Officers, told
the Manila Standard in a telephone interview.
"He should request a formal investigation because this is very serious
accusation. I myself have no first hand information on this coup plot."
Urgello's group counts as members retired and active officers of the Armed
Forces and the National Police. It is based in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
Trillanes, a former military officer who led a failed coup against then
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, on Monday warned Malacañang of a brewing
attempt to overthrow President Aquino, saying the plotters were using the "red
scare" to recruit soldiers.
The Armed Forces described the threat as non-existent.
Former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales rejected allegations he was behind
the move to divide the military and launch a coup against Mr. Aquino.
Gonzales was reacting to charges raised by Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino who
said that the former Defense chief was a member of the propaganda team of former
president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo whose task is to attack her
critics and consolidate her right-wing followers."
Trillanes said he believed the recruitment by retired military officers had
been in the works since last year, but Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr. has
repeatedly dismissed the supposed plot, saying the military's chain of command
was intact and solid behind the President and the Constitution.
"We certainly appreciate the information provided by Senator Trillanes on
this issue, and we have been taking this very seriously in order to monitor …
and validate this report," Burgos told reporters.
Trillanes led the Oakwood mutiny in July 2003. He was arrested
and jailed, but while he was in jail he ran and was elected senator in 2007.
Mr. Aquino himself floated the alleged plot against him by some groups
belonging to the "old system" and against his action on graft and corruption in
the government.
Trillanes claimed that the plot against Mr. Aquino started with the reports
that Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the Communist party of the Philippines,
had slipped into the country and allegedly was being offered a Cabinet-rank by
the Aquino administration.
Malacanang denied both.
But former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, co-founder of the National
Democratic Front, accused Mr. Aquino of "hallucinating" when he said his
administration was open to Sison's seeking an elective position in the
government.
Anti-communist Rep. Pastor Alcover of the Alliance for Nationalism and
Democracy warned Mr. Aquino and the military over what he called the creeping
influence of leftist personalities in Malacañang and in some key government
offices.
Ocampo on Tuesday described Trillanes' revelation as "empty propaganda.
House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said Trillanes' report was the product of
a "fertile imagination."
Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya doubted that the coup threat was
serious.
House Deputy Minority Leader Milagros Magsaysay dismissed the alleged plot as
political propaganda from a whistle blower who wanted to be reelected.
Anakbayan national chairman Vencer Crisostomo said the Aquino administration
could again be resorting to scare tactics.
The National Union of Students of the Philippines said the reported coup plot
was a rumor. Maricar Limpin, executive director of the Framework Convention on
Tobacco Alliance Philippines, urged the President to be extra vigilant. With Maricel Cruz, Gigi Muñoz-David and Macon Ramos-Araneta
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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