AFP: THERE'S NO COUP: LACSON, TRILLANES BLAME COUP RUMORS ON PRO ARROYOS
[PHOTOS - SENATORS PING LACSON AND ANTONIO TRILLANES, BOTH FORMER COUP PLOTTERS]
MANILA, OCTOBER 29, 2011 (STAR) By Jaime Laude - Destabilization plot product of a fertile mind, says AFP: The military assured the public yesterday that reports of destabilization move against the current political leadership are "a product of a fertile mind."
Maj. Gen. Francisco Cruz, of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) intelligence, said the reports "are untrue, without basis and just a propaganda."
During the launching of his human rights handbook for intelligence operations at the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Cruz also belied reports that the pro-Gloria Macapagal Arroyo forces are behind the destabilization plot.
He said he does not know what is the basis of presidential deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte in saying that pro-GMA forces are engaged in the destabilization plot.
On the ground, the AFP has not monitored any plot against the government and that Malacañang has not ordered the military leadership to conduct loyalty check on uniformed personnel, he said.
Reports of destabilization surfaced over the weekend when several senior military officers expressed their intention to resign from their positions to give the President a free hand to deal with the country's prevailing internal security concerns.
This was their response to the President's statement that he was unhappy with the performance of the military following the Basilan carnage where 19 soldiers were killed.
The officers, however, clarified that in offering to resign their posts, there is no plan or intention on their part to destabilize the government.
AFP chief Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. said that the military remains focused on its mandate.
"I was assured by the commanders on the ground that everybody in the area both in the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) and Eastern Mindanao (Eastmincom) are really for the successful operations," Oban said.
Wesmincom is now running after lawless groups in Zamboanga Sibugay and in Basilan, while the Eastmincom is hunting down the communist insurgents in CARAGA region after the rebels staged an attack on three mining firms in Claver, Surigao del Norte recently.
Corruption in AFP
Meanwhile, an administration lawmaker said soldiers are more interested in getting rid of corruption in the AFP than participating in destabilization plots.
Citizens' Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna issued the statement as members of the Liberal Party (LP) in the House of Representatives, headed by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., closed ranks behind the President in his handling of the tense situation in Mindanao.
Tugna said "rumors about Filipino soldiers entertaining ideas of yet another adventurism do not sound like these have merit at all."
"I believe our soldiers are more interested in solving cases of corrupt practices in the AFP where allegedly some officers are involved, instead of adventurism that people no longer support," he said.
The LP lawmakers expressed their full support for the President's policy that there will be no all-out war against the MILF so as not to jeopardize ongoing peace talks.
They, however, called for an active pursuit of the lawless elements responsible for the killing of government troops in Basilan and Zamboanga.
"What happened to our soldiers in these encounters is a tragedy and we must bring the perpetrators to justice. It is precisely in avoiding more losses of lives that we are pursuing all paths to genuine peace," Speaker Belmonte said.
He said "we should not lose sight of the big picture—the attainment of lasting peace with our Muslim brothers which is the goal of the ongoing peace talks with the MILF."
He cited Article II Section 2 of the Declaration of Principles of the 1987 Constitution that states, "the Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation and amity with all nations."
"It is only through the recent bold efforts of the President that the peace talks in Mindanao have been salvaged from the dustbin. Unfortunately, the initiative is now threatened by groups and rogue elements who, by their acts, have only shown an interest to sow violence in the region," he said.
"We should not permit their acts to derail the peace efforts. All sectors —the government, the military, and the community –must therefore rally behind the President in insulating the peace initiative from this lawless violence," Belmonte said.
Deputy Speaker and Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza stressed the role of the AFP should be as clear as is stated in our Constitution that "civilian authority is at all times supreme over the military. The AFP is the protector of the people and the state."
Other House leaders from the LP who expressed support for Aquino were Deputy Speakers Lorenzo Tañada III and Ma. Isabelle Climaco, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, and LP secretary- general and Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya.
No loyalty check
Malacañang said there is no need for loyalty check on the military despite rumors of coups and destabilization plots.
"I don't think there is a need to conduct a loyalty check. What is important, however, is to inform our soldiers: this is the state of our AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), this is what the President said, these are the directives he made," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.
In an interview over radio dzMM, Lacierda said President Aquino has already made clear his stand to AFP chief Oban.
"In his (Oban's) command conference in Wesmincom, he reiterated the point of the President and just to let the soldiers know that the President is the one directing this and to pursue the lawless elements," Lacierda said.
He also said the government's granting of P5 million to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the establishment of a Bangsamoro Institute is "common and public knowledge" and should not be linked to the killing of 19 soldiers by "rogue" MILF guerrillas in Basilan recently.
For former coup leader and now Sen. Gregorio Honasan, a coup is unlikely to prosper due to lack of leadership and popular support.
"There is no credible personality inside and outside the military organization that can pull it off. Of course, the very last and critical ingredient is, will it generate popular support?" Honasan said in a phone patch interview at the Senate yesterday.
"I don't think it (coup) will succeed because the reasons should be very, very much deeper, it must be widespread."
Peace still priority
Despite the Basilan incident, Honasan said the "peace process is what keeps all of us on high, moral and political ground."
Sen. Francis Escudero, for his part, defended Oban's perceived silence on the Basilan issue and on calls for an all-out war against the MILF, saying it was out of respect for the commander-in-chief's position.
Minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano said sobriety should reign amid the "lot of emotions and lot of politics" sparked by the Basilan tragedy.
He also called for the activation of the National Security Council, and for some members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to come together to get a clearer picture of the administration's peace initiatives and its call for "all-out justice."
Senators Panfilo Lacson and Antonio Trillanes, also a former coup plotter, blamed Arroyo loyalists in the military for the destabilization rumors.
"Only those who are at the receiving end of the vigorous ant-corruption campaign waged by the Aquino administration could be responsible for agitating or at least spreading the rumors about a destabilization plot against him," Lacson said.
Trillanes said there might be truth to the rumors of destabilization but expressed doubt it would ever take off.
Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Aquino himself is to blame for the rumored demoralization in the military.
"As I have said, the President is not a true leader. All this trouble is his own doing and he has no one to blame but himself," Marcos said. – With Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez, Delon Porcalla
FROM THE TRIBUNE
WHO STARTED THE COUP PLOT RUMOR?
Text messages, not intel, basis of Palace coup claim By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 10/28/2011
President Aquino and his spokesmen are sticking to their "wagging the dog" ploy, as they insisted that, despite the denial of the Armed Forces of the Philippines leadership and intelligence officers of the existence of a coup plot, calling it the product of a "fertile imagination, some groups are really egging soldiers to rise against the Aquino administration, thereby giving no credence to the assessment of the military's top leadership.
But surprisingly, it now appears that talk of the brewing coup scenario which Malacañang had started in the first place was based purely on text messages and not on actual intelligence reports, as admitted to the media by a Malacañang spokesman.
In an ambush interview with one of three Communications Secretaries, Ricky Carandang, he maintained that the AFP is fully behind the Aquino administration.
He said that talks about the coup plot against the Aquino administration were based on text messages that circulated after the President admonished the AFP for bungling its operation in Al-Barka, Basilan.
"Well, we know that there have been text messages circulating, but we don't know exactly where they are coming from and we don't think that people are actually believing the contents of those text messages," Carandang said.
He, however, failed to explain why deputy presidential spokesman disclosed to the Malacañang media that there are some groups exerting "efforts" to destabilze the Aquino government.
Valte did not identify the groups, but another Aquino ally quickly pointed to the Arroyos as being behind the coup plots, apparently, also on the basis of text messages.
Carandang however would not directly agree on insinuations that the so-called group that is behind efforts to destabilize the government are from the camp of former president, incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo as he noted that the former president no longer has any clout with the AFP.
"We believe that the military is loyal to the Commander in-Chief and that Commander in-Chief is President Aquino. I think you would get a better answer from our security forces. I believe that there's no clout—that she no longer has any clout with the military. The military will remain loyal to the Commander in-Chief," he said.
But while expressing confidence that the AFP is fully behind Aquino, it appears that Aquino himself does not trust his military field commanders who are in charge of the operations in Basilan and in Zamboanga Sibugay that he has to send Secretaries Dinky Soliman of the Department on Social Welfare and Development; Teresita Deles, the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government to hold a "peace and order conference" and at the same time personally assess the situation and report back to Aquino.
It has been expected that Aquino would go there himself even for the purpose of boosting the morale of soldiers who are conducting operations against so-called lawless elements in the area.
"We just want to know what's happening. We want to get the latest information on the ground about how the operations are doing. It's one thing to hear about it when we're here; it's another when you're actually seeing the results. So they want to get a firsthand look at how the operations are going," Carandang said in describing the mission of the three Cabinet officials.
He added that so far, Aquino is happy with the turn of events after ordering the military to conduct operations against what he calls lawless elements in Zamboanga Sibugay while refusing to hold the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) accountable for the carnage.
"I think we're all satisfied right now with the pace of the action against the lawless elements," Carandang said but admitted that a total of 10,000 people have been displaced as a result of the military operations.
" We have numbers closer to 10,000. The DSWD has anticipated this and we have taken care of the needs of the evacuees. So that's been very well-managed by our DSWD and our local government units," he added.
Carandang added that the military operations against the so-called lawless elements has no specific time table but added "we want it to be as soon as possible; we want it to be as clean as possible. If we can do this without harming any civilians, innocent bystanders; if we can do this in a way that doesn't displace too many people which we are doing right now, then I think that's the goal and so far, so good," he said.
For the Liberal Party allies of Aquino in the House, a military coup is not possible under the present Aquino government.
According to Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, the coup rumors which have been circulating for the past several days are unfounded and could not be happening under the present dispensation on the ground that a coup could only thrive under a corrupt government.
Biazon, AFP Chief of Staff during the time of former President Cory Aquino, said that coup rumors are baseless.
"The rumor has no basis. The President is not corrupt,"Biazon stressed.
He said that the rumors could have been triggered by the alleged "soft handed"stance of Aquino on the MILF who are being blamed for the killing of 19 soldiers in Basilan.
Biazon noted that destabilization plots and coup rumors thrive under a corrupt government as in the previous Arroyo administration.
Earlier, Citizens Battle Against Corruption Rep. Sherwin Tugna belittled the reported coup plot, saying members of the AFP are more professional and focused in addressing widespread corruption in their institution.
Biazon claimed that he would know of a coup given his military background.
Biazon aired strong suspicion that the "coup rumor" is being stalked by some sectors from groups outside the AFP who have political motives."
He also expressed doubts that the alleged restiveness in the military following the President's pronouncement over his dissatisfaction by the military's handling of the Basilan clash and the relief of Army spokesman Col. Antonio Parlade Jr. from service could triggered a military coup.
"I don't think sp. The AFP is looking at the possibility of lapses in judgment, the possibility of incompetence of people in the ground. But this issue is still being investigated in the AFP," said Biazon.
Sen. Gregorio Honasan yesterday also belittled rumors of destabilization plot against Aquino who rejected calls for an all-out offensive against Muslim rebels for killing 19 soldiers in Basilan last week.
According to Honasan, a former coup leader, the "ingredients" for a successful coup "are not present." With Gerry Baldo and Michaela P. del Callar
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