Gen. Senga says coup plot against Arroyo ‘real’

MANILA – The chief of staff of the Philippine Armed Forces Generoso Senga has confirmed the existence of a plot to overthrow the Arroyo administration being hatched by disaffected members of the military.
He said there “some indications” to show that rumors of this plot on the ground are true, adding that “we are verifying their extent.”
Senga bared this at an early-morning press conference at Camp Aguinaldo. He was flanked by the Army chief, Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the Air Force chief, Lt. Gen. Jose Reyes, and the navy chief, Vice Adm. Mateo Mayuga.
“There is a threat. This is the object of our intelligence effort. At this point I cannot say that the threat is that serious. This is something we should take seriously and for our operatives to determine,” Senga added. He said AFP intelligence is verifying if the coup threat is originating from within or outside the ranks of the military. Pressed by reporters, he declined to elaborate on the “indications” of the military-coup plot.
 “We have some leads. We know some of them. We are verifying these. But intentions are different from capabilities. I think we should not discuss them now,” Senga said. Talk of a fresh plot to unseat the government came after four young army officers who took part in the short-lived Oakwood mutiny escaped from an army detention center in Fort Bonifacio last week. They said serving military men helped them escape. The escape of Captain Nathaniel Rabonza and First Lieutenants Sonny Sarmiento, Lawrence San Juan and Patricio Bumindang Jr. has made the military and the police upgrade the alert status of their forces.
Their escape came a month after a core leader of the Oakwood mutiny, Marine Captain Nicanor Faeldon, escaped from his escorts. The five fugitive officers have issued statements against the Arroyo administration.
The police and the military earlier lowered down their alert status even as Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez said he had knowledge of a military cabal’s plot to wrest power through a coup.
MANILA – Four more Oakwood mutineers escaped from the custody of the military Jan. 17, this time from the Fort Bonifacio detention facility in Makati. The escape followed Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon’s trick played on  his guards as he fled from the Armed Forces custody in Makati in December.
The escape, along with that of Faeldon, has raised new fears that renegades in the military are planning new attempts at a coup against the Arroyo administration.Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Oscar Pimentel allowed members of the Magdalo Group to go to the comfort room by batches and ordered the in-charge military official that every accused should be escorted by at least three soldiers on their way to the court and back to the detention cell of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) in Camp Aguinaldo, where they are being detained.
 During the hearing, defense lawyers Roy Robles and Ruel Pulido cross-examined Army Captain Roberto Riazo, 21st witness of the prosecution who testified that he did not know about the alleged mutiny and he was just “deceived” by Faeldon.
Riazo said on July 26, 2003, Faeldon told him and other soldiers that they would go to the military camp in Ternate, Cavite for the purpose which the escapee did not mention until they were surprised when they went to the Oakwood Hotel in Makati City the following day and staged there a mutiny against the Arroyo administration.
The defense counsels tried to destroy the credibility of Riazo by presenting a grave threat case he faces at the Pasay City court. They also questioned Riazo for turning as a state witness in the case since he admitted that he does not know anything about the plan to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through a military coup.
Aside from Faeldon, two other mutineers-Army Captains Geraldo Gambala and John Andres-were unable to attend the hearing. Gambala had not been not allowed by the Isafp because the court did not include him in a notice of hearing while Andres is still confined at the V. Luna General Hospital and was deemed physically unfit to appear in the hearing.
The court set the next hearing on January 31.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), Lieutenant Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes III, one of the failed mutiny leaders, assured the people that the military is ready to support the people’s decision on whether President Arroyo should stay in office.
Trillanes said the military exists for the people and not for any particular person or institution. He added that as long as “little” Filipinos need them for a reform in government, they will respond.
“We let the people decide what they want in our country and we, as soldiers, are there to support and protect them,” he said.
Asked about Faeldon’s claim that he has the support of a majority of the military personnel, Trillanes said soldiers know what is the right thing to do but there are circumstances that prevent them from carrying it out “in order for us to achieve a real reform, but only time would decide our fate.”
Faeldon managed to escape from his escorts on their way back to Camp Aguinaldo after the court postponed the hearing of the case last December 14. He subsequently appeared in public and called for civil disobedience to oust the President.
He also showed that he has the support of many soldiers and policemen in his call for a change in government by releasing several videos and photos that show him visiting military and police camps to prove that soldiers and policemen who “remain loyal to the people” protect him.