MANILA, 15 August 2003 — A ringleader of the failed military mutiny on July 27 said yesterday he could have assassinated President Gloria Arroyo long before but that his group did not want to kill her.
The revelation by Capt. Gary Alejano, a former member of Arroyo’s security detail, came in a Senate hearing probing the aborted bid to demand the ouster of Arroyo and other top officials.
Alejano, a Marine officer, had been in charge with billeting Arroyo in one of her sorties to the south and said “I could have planted explosives in her bed” if he had really wanted to kill her.
He denied that the group that took over part of Manila’s Makati financial district for less than 24 hours in July was plotting to kill Arroyo.
“It was never in my mind to ambush or assassinate the president because if I did (want to kill her), I would have done it long ago.”
Alejano, who was no longer a member of the presidential security detail, said he joined the mutiny to support his fellow junior officers.
Alejano was among six junior officers who led more than 300 mutinous soldiers in their 20-hour takeover of part of Manila’s financial district of Makati.
The mutineers insisted that their holing up at Makati was a spontaneous move, contrary to government charges that it was part of a wider plot to assassinate Arroyo and replace her with a 15-man junta to be led by opposition Senator Gregorio Honasan.
Officials have said that infiltrators within Arroyo’s security detail planned to lure her into an ambush as part of the rebels bid to seize power.
In a separate hearing, however, of the Feliciano Commission, the head of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) said some civilian and military backers of coup attempt “are still out there” and could pose a threat to the Philippine administration.”
The commission was formed to look into the failed uprising and to recommend ways on how to address its causes. It was similar to the Davide Commission that investigated the 1987 and 1989 failed coup attempts against the Corazon Aquino government.
“It is clear that the mutiny ... was the product and part of a larger conspiracy to topple the government and to install a civilian-military junta,” NICA director general Cesar Garcia said. “What is not clear is the full extent of the conspiracy.”
He said the thwarted plan included springing ousted President Joseph Estrada from his hospital detention center and taking over television and radio stations.
While denying that they plotted to topple the government by force, the most visible leader of the failed mutiny told the Senate investigation televised live nationwide that his demand for President Arroyo to resign still stands. The mutineers have accused military officials of corruption and ordering soldiers to bomb Muslim mosques, and Arroyo of not doing anything to stop them.
They also claimed the existence of an alleged plot approved by Arroyo that included government-instigated bombings to justify martial law and keep her in power. The government has denied the allegations.
Lies Coming Out
In a statement, President Arroyo assured Filipinos “that the wheels of justice will ... expose the full length and breadth of this conspiracy and exact full retribution from those who led it.”
“The truth and the lies are now surfacing for everyone to hear and to see,” Arroyo said. “For anyone to say (it) ... was a spontaneous mutiny is like saying that the bombing of the World Trade Center was an accident,” she added, referring to the mutineers’ claim that their takeover of a ritzy mall and adjoining residential tower was a spontaneous action.
Arroyo also challenged Honasan to come out of hiding and deny the allegation in a congressional probe. “Senator Honasan should come out and defend himself openly,” the president said in a statement.
“His companions are already rendering testimony in full view and hearing of the public and it does not speak well of a senator to be hiding from justice, as well as the scrutiny of his own peers.”
Honasan is a former army colonel who led several bloody coup attempts against the government in the 1980s, but was later amnestied and won a senate seat.
Honasan’s last public appearance was July 29, two days after the aborted mutiny, when he appeared on the Senate floor denying any wrong-doing.
The soldiers have already been charged in a civilian court and face possible court martial. The Justice Department, meanwhile, has summoned Honasan to submit written depositions to answer the charges against him by Aug. 18.
Messianic Hotheads
During yesterday’s hearing, senators scolded the rebel officers for outbursts during their testimony and their refusal to answer key questions.
The officers insisted that the Senate probe deal with alleged military and government corruption, testing the patience of legislators who pressed them to reveal details of the operation that took over part of Manila’s Makati financial district for less than 24 hours.
Some of the officers went so far as to compare their 20-hour armed mutiny to street protests by leftist activists.
Senate President Franklin Drilon reminded the mutineers, however, that their use of firearms and explosives to back up demands for top officials to step down took their action beyond the bounds of legal protest.
“You carry arms and that’s the big difference,” he said.
Trillanes said the sole objective of the armed takeover was “to tell the people (about) the anomalies in this government and the armed forces.”
“We consider most of the generals of the armed forces to be corrupt,” Trillanes said, only to be reprimanded by Drilon for casting broad aspersions.
Trillanes himself, however, got embroiled in a controversy showing that he was an incorporator of a consulting firm that offered to do a survey for the Department of National Defense (DND) early this year.
In his testimony before the Senate hearing yesterday, Maj. Edgardo de Leon, administrative officer of the department, said that on April 25, the DND received a proposal addressed to Secretary Angelo Reyes from the FYI Research and Consulting Group to conduct of a “comprehensive nationwide survey” for a fee of 25,000 pesos.
Reyes rejected the offer of the firm, which released a survey in June showing Senator Honasan as a possible vice presidential candidate.
Malaca?ang has linked Honasan to the mutiny and released photos Wednesday which it claimed showed the senator and former coup leader meeting with junior military officers.
Trillanes yesterday said that his position as treasurer in a polling firm was a pro-forma one for purposes of incorporating the company. He said that while he was listed as the firm’s treasurer, he did not perform or exercise the position’s functions. He also said he had no direct knowledge of the firm’s operations.
The Inquirer, quoting military sources, reported earlier that the firm’s surveys were intended to project Honasan as a leading presidential candidate. Trillanes denied that he allowed the firm to use his name.
‘Blood Compact’
While the suspected mutiny leaders were denying that they had a blood compact with Honasan, one of them admitted for the first time yesterday that there was indeed such a pact.
On questioning by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon at yesterday’s hearing, army Capt. Gerardo Gambala said the blood compact started between him and Capt. Maestrecampo, and that he administered the same rite to five or six of his classmates.
He said the blood compact was to symbolize their commitment to fight graft and corruption in the military establishment.
When asked if they participated, however, the six other mutiny leaders present at the hearing said they were not part of it.
The military officers, through their lawyers, had earlier denied taking part in any blood compact, which involves the drawing and mixing of the blood of persons wishing to make a solemn agreement.
Gambala said they drew blood from their upper left arm as a “commitment against graft and corruption, and to serve God and country.” However, he could not recall the exact date.
The military earlier said they received intelligence report that Honasan, made a blood compact by signing with the blood the document, “The Last Revolution: Towards A New Philippine Order.”
On Wednesday, Malaca?ang Palace released photos allegedly showing Honasan at the blood compact ceremonies.
