Honasan captured

Former senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, tagged as the leader of most coup attempts in the country and who went into hiding after being implicated in the alleged plot to oust President Arroyo in February, was arrested in a posh subdivision in Quezon City early yesterday morning after a brief chase that left him with serious leg injuries.

Honasan, a former Army colonel and poster boy for Edsa People Power, was arrested in a joint operation by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) as he was trying to flee from the house of "close friend" Ingrid Ramos at Enclave Townhouse in Green Meadows, Barangay Ugong in Quezon City. Also arrested was his driver Jaime Baladad.

Honasan hurt his legs after he reportedly jumped out of a window to the roof of an adjacent bungalow. But PNP chief Director General Oscar Calderon said Honasan, 58, was injured after he tried to elude arrest by jumping over a fence after a brief house-to-house chase. Honasan had lost an index finger in another escape try years ago.

Television footage showed Honasan in a wheelchair under heavy security.

He was initially treated for his injuries at the CIDG headquarters and later at the PNP General Hospital at Camp Crame. Honasan was transferred late in the afternoon to the Asian Hospital in Muntinlupa City for further treatment of lacerations in his right leg and a sprain in the other.

The police, Calderon said, would ask the Makati City Regional Trial Court to let them keep Honasan at Camp Crame where security is tighter.

"There was resistance during the arrest, but when we already handcuffed him and he saw the futility of his resistance, he just followed us," Senior Superintendent Asher Dolina, CIDG chief for Metro Manila, said.

Calderon brushed aside rumors that the arrest of Honasan was part of a grand plan of the administration for the coming May elections.

"The arrest of former senator Honasan is not related with any upcoming political activities. This is about normalcy of the government and the republic. This is about law enforcement – arresting a fugitive with warrant of arrest," Calderon said at press briefing at Camp Crame.

Calderon said the government will pay an informant a P5-million bounty for the arrest of Honasan, who had been hiding since February. For security reasons, the informant was not identified.

The police chief vowed to pursue Honasan’s cohorts who had hid him for months and said police will make sure he doesn’t escape. He said he had "a gentlemen’s agreement" with Honasan that he would cooperate. Still at large are former colonels Jake Malajacan and Felix Turingan.

"His fingerprints are in all the coup attempts. He is the guru," Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said upon learning of Honasan’s arrest. "I think (his arrest) will help stabilize the country."

CIDG’s Dolina said Honasan tried to escape when he learned of the presence of government agents in the vicinity.

Dolina said that hours before his arrest, Honasan was spotted in his house on President Marcos street, Industrial Valley Subdivision in Barangay Cinco Hermanos in Marikina City at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

"From there we alerted our team, At about that time (6 p.m.), a maroon Toyota Revo went out of the subdivision, we tailed the vehicle which went around Metro Manila. At about 2 a.m. the vehicle suddenly went to a townhouse in Green Meadows in Quezon City," Dolina said.

The operatives, Dolina said, asked Green Meadows security guards to let them in but instead of opening the gate of the subdivision, the guards ran to their barracks.

This prompted the government agents to scale the subdivision’s high gate using a ladder. The operatives rushed at once to Ramos’ house, which was nearby, and finding it locked, forced the door open.

"We had to ram the door’s house three times to open (it). We searched each room but failed to locate Honasan. Other operatives spotted Honasan jump out of the sliding window of Ramos’ house to the roof of the adjacent bungalow," an operative said. Dolina said Honasan was cornered at the laundry area of a neighbor’s house.

"It was then that I introduced myself, then we handcuffed him (Honasan), informed him of the charges and his rights. We then brought him to Camp Crame," Dolina added.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who went to Camp Crame to see the captured Honasan, said the former colonel "thanked us, especially the PNP for being professional and for treating him well."

"He (Honasan) promised not to make things complicated as it is right now," Puno said.

Another version

Opposition Sen. Vicente Sotto III, a friend of Honasan, had another version of the arrest. He said Honasan was arrested by police after a brief car chase at the vicinity of Christ the King Church.

He said the fugitive senator jumped out of the moving vehicle and tried to hide in the neighborhood. It was while scaling fences that he hurt his right leg, Sotto said.

"Earlier in the evening nasa sasakyan sila at naramandaman niya may susmusunod (they were in a car when he noticed that they were being followed)…Nung maramdaman nga niya na sila’y sinusundan…tumalon siya sa sasakyan, tumalon siya palabas dun sa may Christ the King (When he noticed that they were being followed, he jumped out of the car near Christ the King). At may mga pinasok siyang bakuran. At nagpa-akyat-akyat sa mga bakod. Palipat-lipat. Dun nadali iyong kanan niyang paa atsaka iyong sapataos, na nalaglag eh (He entered a compound, climbed fences. That’s how he injured his right foot. He lost his shoe)," Sotto said.

CIDG operatives maintained Honasan was in Ramos’ house when agents moved in to arrest him.

DILG’s Puno, one of the first civilian officials to see Honasan after his arrest, said he asked the former senator to work for the surrender of his fugitive comrades.

He said a "common friend" whom he declined to identify promised to help secure the surrender of the others.

"I asked him to ask the other gentlemen to convince them to go back to the fold of the law. I told him that it is only a matter of time that the police and the AFP will arrest them," Puno said. "If he can communicate with the others, I asked him to advise them to communicate with us. He is the best proof that they will be treated well."

"We agreed that this (case) will be resolved by the court," the DILG chief said. "I think he is also relieved and he told me that he is looking forward to see his grandchildren."

Honasan will be subjected to a CT scan examination to determine the extent of his injuries, according to Puno.

Initially, Puno said officials considered taking Honasan to St. Luke’s Hospital in Quezon City but his attending physician was not available.

He also said authorities will take no chances in securing Honasan. "We don’t want a circus to happen on this situation, we are imposing a rule on visitors not because we do not want visitors. It’s because the nature of the case filed (against him) and the nature of detention require that we be careful and circumspect about this," Puno said.

CIDG chief Director Jesus Verzosa said Honasan has been indicted in connection with the short-lived 2003 Oakwood mutiny by about 300 junior officers, and is facing another charge of coup d’etat and rebellion over the February failed coup. Both charges are non-bailable.

Mrs. Arroyo declared a weeklong state of emergency last Feb. 24 after accusing military "adventurists,’’ communist rebels and civilian financial backers of plotting to oust her. Dozens of opposition activists and military officers are facing charges.

The warrant of arrest on Honasan and other retired military officers was issued by Makati City Judge Cesar Sta. Maria for their alleged role in the Oakwood mutiny.

In March, Puno approved an P8-million reward for any information that would lead to the surrender, arrest or capture of Honasan and six others.

Of the P8-million bounty, P5 million had been allotted for Honasan, alias Kuya; P1 million for Felix Turingan; P500,000 each for Virgilio Padilla Briones, Romeo Lazo and Ernesto Macahiya; and P250,000 each for George Duldulao and Lina Reyes. Briones, Lazo and Macahiya were arrested separately several months ago.

As a young idealistic officer campaigning for military reform, Honasan gained fame when he led a failed 1986 plot to overthrow the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, which set off defections and triggered the "people power" revolt that toppled the strongman and catapulted President Aquino to power.

The following year, he tried and failed to topple Aquino, hiding for five months before he was caught. He escaped from a prison ship, was arrested again in 1988 and led another coup attempt in December 1989. The December coup, the most serious against Mrs. Aquino, left scores of people dead and the financial district of Makati paralyzed for days.

After gaining amnesty from President Ramos, Honasan won a Senate seat in 1995.

Reflecting the turmoil of his life, he reportedly named one of his daughters "Coup-kie."

"I find myself with a few more pounds, with more white hair, going through exactly the same message, the same situation as I did a few decades back," he said in an interview following the 2003 mutiny in Manila. "I categorically say that my life, if I can help it, as a renegade, as a coup plotter, as a rebel is over." - Myleth Katleen Dalisay, AFP, AP