Palace told: Ignore retired Marine colonel

MANILA, Philippines - Muntinlupa City Rep. Rodolfo Biazon today branded retired Marine Col. Generoso Mariano's ouster call against President Benigno Aquino III as a "non-entity."

In a weekly media forum in Greenhills, San Juan City this morning, Biazon said the government should simply ignore Mariano's propaganda.

He, however, said investigators should look deeper into the group or individuals behind Mariano.

"He should be ignored. He's a non-entity. He's not a leader...but we should look into kung sino nagpapagalaw dito kay Mariano," said Biazon, a former Armed Forces Chief of staff and Marine Commandant.

Biazon added that Mariano has always been in the "periphery" in the past uprising of the disgruntled soliders.

"Sino ba yung si Mariano? I don't think he can influence the Marines," he said.

He also noted that there is no valid grievance of the soldiers for them to overthrow the government.

"The soldiers, to me, are happy. Relatively, of course," Biazon said, citing the substantial increase in the salaries of the military personnel.

Mariano has been ordered restricted to quarters by the Philippine Navy.

Navy chief Vice Admiral Alexander Pama had said that Mariano will remain under the custody of the Navy pending formal investigations against him.

In a video dated July 3, which was distributed to mediamen and uploaded to social networking sites on Friday, Mariano called on every Filipino to "replace the government."

Copies of the video were also sent to different military headquarters.

The release of the video was also timed with President Aquino's presiding over a military command conference in Camp Aguinaldo.