State of rebellion lifted

President Arroyo lifted yesterday the state of rebellion she declared on July 27 when some 340 soldiers seized a section of Makati City’s central business district in a bid to oust her from power.

"The threat has abated," the President said after awarding medals to soldiers who defended government installations during the failed mutiny. "I am hereby lifting the state of rebellion."

Amid loud applause from soldiers and civilians who attended the ceremony at Malacañang, the President also ordered Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Narciso Abaya to declassify seized documents on the mutiny.

Abaya said the Army is in custody of three more officers under suspicion of involvement in the coup try.

He identified the three as Army planning chief (G-5) Col. Pompeyo Limbo, 10th Infantry Battalion commander Col. Demy Tejares and Maj. Herbert Abenante of the Army training and doctrines command.

"We are now over the hump," said AFP vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, who met the press after the Malacañang ceremony to reveal details of the purported coup, which the plotters codenamed "Oplan Andres."

Garcia said the takeover of the Makati business district was only a fallback option that the rebels — calling themselves the "Magdalo" — took after authorities uncovered the plot for the coup, which was originally scheduled for Aug. 2 as The STAR had reported.

"They intended to install somebody with the codename Kuya (Big Brother) as head of state," Garcia said. "Kuya referred to Sen. Gregorio Honasan."

Citing computer diskettes seized from the rebels, Garcia said the original plan would have involved at least 600 soldiers who were to storm Malacañang, military installations, highways leading to Metro Manila, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and television and radio stations.

"Malacañang Palace was going to be stormed by Marines and Navy Special Warfare Group," Garcia said, adding that rebels detailed with the Presidential Security Group (PSG) were to lead the presidential convoy into an ambush where Mrs. Arroyo would be killed.

He said the seized diskettes also detailed the names of the coup plot’s participants and financiers as well as the aliases of three more senior officers, ranked up to colonel, who served as the group’s advisers.

Garcia said the diskettes listed the names of 222 middle-ranking military officers who allegedly planned to join the uprising — much higher than the 108 officers who immediately surrendered to the government.

According to the seized diskettes, each officer on the list was to recruit 10 to 12 for the coup.

The Charge Sheet Lengthens

Honasan has been charged with coup d’état before the Department of Justice (DOJ) but the charges have not been filed in court. Honasan, however, has disappeared and has said he will not surface until the state of rebellion is lifted.

Honasan, a dismissed Army colonel who led a series of coup attempts against former President Corazon Aquino, was last seen in public trying to negotiate with the rebels at the height of the rebellion. He is believed to be somewhere in Mindanao.

More than 300 soldiers, including a number of junior officers, have been charged with coup d’état before the Makati City regional trial court. Forty-five officers and 108 men are also facing possible mutiny charges before court-martial.

Under the Revised Penal Code, coup d’état is punishable by reclusion perpetua, or 40 years imprisonment, while mutiny is punishable by death by musketry under the Articles of War.

Charged with rebellion were Ramon Cardenas, who served as senior deputy executive secretary during the administration of ousted President Joseph Estrada, and Estrada’s mistress Laarni Enriquez. Both have denied involvement.

Also charged with rebellion were some 1,000 members of the para-military fraternity Philippine Guardians Brotherhood Inc.

PGBI spokesman Ernesto Macahiya urged yesterday all its members to "close ranks and prepare against an impending mass witchhunt" by the police and military.

"We intend to expose and prove to the court this monumental canard concocted by (Interior Secretary Jose) Lina and his corrupt, inept police and jail guards establishment," Macahiya said in a statement.

"We are therefore sounding an alarm to our members and call for an open and vigilant mass mobilization against Secretary Lina’s marauding policemen," the statement read.

"We must also punish traitors, opportunists, and deep penetration agents among our ranks and give them due and appropriate justice," Macahiya added.

Reactions

Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos echoed the Guardians’ complaints and urged the authorities not to let the ongoing investigation degenerate into a witchhunt.

"Even soldiers who knew nothing of the supposed putsch are being dragged into the mess," Marcos said. "This is too much already. They should distinguish friend from foe."

"If (President Arroyo) does not watch it, the very soldiers who protected GMA during the recent mutiny may be the same ones who shall ultimately bring about her downfall," Marcos added.

But Vice President Teofisto Guingona said the lifting of the state of rebellion "reflects the reality that the government has been able to effectively meet the threat to national order in the wake of the July 27 Oakwood mutiny."

"The removal of the state of rebellion clearly serves to fully assure our people that the national security situation has stabilized and this development is surely a welcome news to the international community along with domestic businessmen and foreign investors," Guingona said is a statement.

Senate President Franklin Drilon and other senators also lauded the President for lifting the state of rebellion because "it did not augur well for the economy."

"I must commend President Arroyo for her determination in crossing the mutiny and upholding the rule of law and at the same time recognizing the inherent right of the Senate to summon before our hearing the leaders of the mutiny," Drilon said.

Speaker Jose de Venecia, for his part, said the lifting of the state of rebellion will "greatly ease the anxiety of the business sector and foreign investors."

At the same time, De Venecia said the "most reasonable course of action under the circumstances" would be to conduct a joint congressional investigation on the coup try.

He said the joint inquiry will allow both houses of Congress to root out the causes of the rebellion without interfering with the work of the independent commission (created by Mrs. Arroyo)." — With reports from Christina Mendez, Jaime Laude, Mike Frialde, Sammy Santos, Rodel Clapano, Aurea Calica, AFP, AP