MANILA, 24 February 2006 — As President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday sought support against “politicking and elements of destabilization,” former President Corazon Aquino called for another “people power” revolt, but this time against poverty and inequity.
Aquino, who was propelled to power following the ouster of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the 1986 uprising, said “our revolution remained unfinished and much of our democratic institutions remain weak to this day.”
Speaking at a forum to mark the 20th anniversary of the “people power” revolt, she lamented that “millions of our people remain poor, unable to participate meaningfully in creating the prosperous nation we all long for.”
Poverty and inequity, she said, are adversaries that “are far more difficult to vanquish than the Marcos dictatorship.”
“It will demand the courage of our convictions over a sustained period of time,” she said.
She also lamented said “erstwhile tactical allies with latent disdain for democracy” stole the gains of the 1986 peaceful revolt.
Aquino was among those who had demanded the resignation of Arroyo last year amid allegations that Arroyo cheated in the 2004 presidential election.
Aquino said, however, that she still believed in effecting a change in leadership via constitutional means despite charges that Arroyo had been employing foul means to cling on to power.
“Filipino blood need not be shed to make way for meaningful social change,” Aquino told the forum.
Aquino met Wednesday with business and religious leaders, most of whom are known to be critics of Arroyo. She refused to divulge details, but a business leader who was present said they tried to come up with a constitutional solution to the political stalemate to avert groups from resorting to unconstitutional means to oust Arroyo. Aquino has called for Arroyo to step down.
“There is a fear that until we resolve our political issues, particularly with respect to the legitimacy of our president, that all of these questions will continue and we cannot move forward really,” said former Finance Secretary Ramon del Rosario Jr., an official of the influential Makati Business Club.
Politicking
In her own meeting with a business group yesterday, Arroyo warned that politicking and elements of destabilization were threatening to spoil the gains in the economy.
“... let us resolve to not let politicking or destabilization put down or destroy what we have here before us — the Filipino spirit of enterprise,” she said in a speech at the First “Go Negosyo” (Go Business) Summit of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship at the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
“Growing the economy through entrepreneurship and steadily denting poverty will help us to overcome divisive politics,” she said.
Arroyo has been upbeat about the economy after the upgrades on the Philippines’ credit ratings by international ratings agencies and the implementation of revenue-generating tax measures.
Coup Jitters
Arroyo survived an impeachment attempt last year over allegations that she cheated in the 2004 election and fraud but some elements of the military as well as some leftwing groups and opposition politicians would still like her to go.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said yesterday that a plot to overthrow the Arroyo government has been uncovered and key leaders of the coup plot identified. Some have been detained, he said.
Early this morning, the military said an army general and a marine colonel were placed under “restriction” and investigation on suspicion that they were part of an alleged coup plot.
Gen.Generoso Senga, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, identified the officers as Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, commander of the army’s elite First Scout Ranger Regiment, and Col. Ariel Querubin, a decorated officer of the Philippines Marines.
Both officers were among the founders of the Young Officers Union (YOU), which was involved in a bloody but failed coup attempt in 1989 against then-President Corazon Aquino.
“We were able to persuade them that what they’re planning to do was not the proper thing to do. We have reduced the threat,” Senga told television station GMA-7 early Friday.
Senga said some “misguided elements” in the AFP were calling for a “withdrawal of support” for Arroyo and that he had called up military commanders and reminded them that they “will abide strictly with the chain of command.”
Local radio and TV stations had earlier told of an unusual level of activity in Malacañang and the Camp Aguinaldo military general headquarters since Thursday night.
Security around the Camp and the Fort Bonifacio headquarters of the Philippine Army in Taguig City has been tightened in the face of the alleged coup threat.
Police checkpoints were set up at exits of the North Luzon Expressway in the direction of Manila, some of them manned by members of the elite Police Special Action Force.
Leftist activists and Arroyo’s former allies were preparing a bigger protest rally today around a Roman Catholic shrine, scene of two “people power” revolts in 1986 and 2001.
Arroyo rose from the vice presidency after Joseph Estrada was forced to step down five years ago when the military brass abandoned him in the face of a popular uprising.
Security around the presidential palace was tightened. “We are not precluding the possibility that something could happen,” said in a radio interview yesterday, a day after the army had identified 14 officers linked to the plot.
Army officials yesterday maintained that they have information linking former Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan, hailed as a hero in the 1986 “people power” uprising, to a fresh plot to unseat President Arroyo.
Honasan, a former colonel and an opposition leader, accused the government on Wednesday of spreading rumors about his involvement in a coup.
Officials said Honasan was recruiting junior military officers to take part in a plot codenamed “Oplan Hackle,” which was uncovered this month by troops loyal to the president.
“He’s still at it,” an intelligence official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. “We know that he has been going around military camps, talking to captains and lieutenants and agitating them to take actions.”
Honasan was one of the leaders of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), which broke away from Marcos on Feb. 22, 1986, sparking the “people power” revolt that restored democracy in the poor southeast Asian country after 14-years of martial law.
Army officials said three retired military officers who were with Honasan at the “people power” demonstrations in 1986 were also involved in the plot to unseat Arroyo and form a civilian-military junta.
“Honasan was definitely the leader,” a lieutenant interviewed on ABS-CBN television said yesterday, saying he attended clandestine meetings with the plotters four times and saw the senator with several retired soldiers.
Honasan, who was said to be using the codename “popeye,” was also identified as the leader of “Oplan Hackle” in a document leaked to the news media.
Warning Bell
A supposed rebel soldier also confirmed over nationwide radio the existence of a brewing plot to unseat Arroyo.
In an interview on a radio morning talk show, a called using the name Captain FPJ Batingaw, supposedly of the Magdiwang Group in the Philippine Air Force, urged other soldiers to turn against Arroyo’s “corrupt” administration.
“This is the right time for us to move,” Batingaw, who claimed the support of the middle level officials of the PAF, said. Batingaw is the Tagalog word for warning bell.
Batingaw refused to reveal details of the planned military takeover but said the administration would afterward be taken over by a joint military and civilian team.
Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla, PAF spokesman, later labeled Batingaw and his colleagues as “opportunists” riding on the current talk of unrest in the military.
According to Padilla, contrary to what Batingaw said, majority of the men in the PAF still remained loyal to the constitution and thus to Macapagal Arroyo.
“There are always people with grievances in any organization,” Padilla said. (With input from agencies and Inquirer News Service)
