Now it can be told series --www.inq7.net

Now it can be told: Why 'withdrawal' plot failed

First posted 01:02am (Mla time) Mar 11, 2006
By Tony S. Bergonia
Inquirer
http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=68994


Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the March 11, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


(Editor's Note: For obvious reasons, sources for this story would have to remain unnamed. But they are known to the editors to be in a position to have had first-hand knowledge of the events leading to the Feb. 24 aborted "withdrawal of support.")

THE country came close to being run by what its architects want to describe as a military caretaker group that planned to take over government briefly and force the immediate holding of elections amid the continuing crisis over whether President Macapagal-Arroyo had really won the May 2004 election.

Sources close to a group of generals and colonels who drew the blueprint for the takeover said the plan called for a bloodless maneuver with the highest officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines doing only one thing—withdrawing support from their Commander in Chief.

The source, an AFP insider, said all the major service commanders—the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force—were briefed about the plan.

All, but one, expressed either willingness to be considered in, or to wait on the sidelines. The only service commander who would have nothing to do with the plan was Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, according to the source.

"He (Esperon) was afraid that when a new government is in place, he would be investigated for his role in the "Hello Garci" scandal," said the source.

Esperon was one of the military officers whose names were mentioned in the Hello Garci tapes, a compilation of wiretapped phone calls of Virgilio Garcillano, former commissioner of the Commission on Elections.

Ms Arroyo's opponents alleged that the wiretapped conversations provided proof that massive fraud was the key to her victory in the 2004 presidential elections.


Crucial meeting

The source, an AFP insider, said that the day before the plot was to be executed on Feb. 24, a secret, crucial meeting took place among three officers who were in on the plan: Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, head of the Scout Rangers Regiment; Col. Ariel Querubin, head of a Marine brigade based in Camp Ranao, Marawi City; and Marine commandant Brig. Gen. Renato Miranda.


VIP visitor

The three officers had one very important visitor on that day—AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Generoso Senga.

"He said he was in," said one source privy to the meeting.

Contacted by the Inquirer, Senga said, "I have not heard of that [military takeover]. It's the first time I've heard that. I have not even talked with them. Aren't those things planned over a period of time, planned over several years? So how can I be part when I have not even talked with them."

A few days before D-Day, Feb. 24, when the plan would be executed, junior officers who were part of the plot had been greeting each other in military camps-"Malapit na (It's getting near)."

"It's not a coup," said one source. "And it's not a junta."


Power-packed meeting

Lim, the source said, had to deny that there was a coup when apparently, the plan leaked and he got a call from former Rep. Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, who asked if something was afoot.

Respected business leaders and influential Church officials might have had an inkling of the military plan because on Feb. 22, they held what was described as a low-key meeting at the Manila Peninsula. But those present packed a lot of wallop.

Aside from members of the Hyatt 10, the meeting was also attended by businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde, former President Corazon Aquino and other prominent business leaders.

"There is a sense of urgency that the political crisis has to be resolved at the soonest time possible because the constitutional avenues for resolving this crisis are narrowing down and we don't want to be left with extra-constitutional alternatives," former education secretary and Hyatt 10 member Florencio Abad was quoted as saying in a phone interview on the day the Manila Peninsula meeting was held.

The source said the military plan was for Senga to head the caretaker government but on condition that he declare the holding of elections immediately.

The plan also was to keep the two houses of Congress intact—the House of Representatives and the Senate.

"So how can you call that a coup? Or a junta? Congress will not be shut down," said the source.


Power-packed meeting

The plan, as had been previously reported, was for members of the Scout Rangers and the Marines to walk out of their camps to join the Feb. 24 marches to celebrate the 20th Edsa I anniversary. They would be wearing their uniforms and with two distinct markings—white patches and their long firearms with their muzzles down.

It was a plan rich in theatrics, but definitely wanting in firepower, said the Inquirer sources.

The stage that was chosen was the rally at Ayala Avenue in Makati City as it was the site selected for the protest-cum-Edsa celebration.

There, as the Rangers and Marines marched with protesters, the plan was for Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim to walk up the stage and declare his withdrawal of support for Ms Arroyo.

A video of Lim talking about the withdrawal of support and explaining the decision was allegedly taped and copies prepared for distribution and airing to key TV stations as Lim stood on the Ayala stage.

This part of the plan, however, was aborted for fear that a copy of the video would leak.

The next step after Lim declares his withdrawal of support for Ms Arroyo on the Ayala stage was for someone to call Senga next. A speech had been prepared for Senga to read. It had the same message as Lim's—withdrawal of support for Ms Arroyo.


Call for election is key

The military officers who planned the drastic move (they insist it's not a coup) were aware that a junta, or a military-run government, faces strong resistance from the people, according to the sources.

"That was why the call for immediate elections was key," said one source.

The architects of the plan knew that it would violate the rule of succession in which Vice President Noli de Castro was to take the place of Ms Arroyo, according to the source, "but the elections would be called immediately and everyone would be busy campaigning."

"Besides, the military has the barrel of the gun," said the source.

The officers also toyed with the idea of having Senate President Franklin Drilon head the caretaker government, should circumstances show that resistance to the caretaker period having a purely military face was overwhelming.


Other changes

Aside from taking over government while the elections are being held, the architects of the plan were also planning some major changes.

One was to put former Special Action Force head, Chief Supt. Marcelino Franco Jr. whose reputation was untarnished as a police officer, as chief of the Philippine National Police.

According to the sources, there were signs that Esperon was entertaining the idea of taking part in the plot, or simply allowing the plan's execution.

Before the meeting of the three officers that Senga dropped in on, Esperon had met with Ms Arroyo, and met with Lim shortly after meeting the President.


'All systems go'

No details of Esperon's meeting with Ms Arroyo could be obtained by the Inquirer but another source said Esperon disclosed the results of the meeting in his conversation with Lim.

On the night of Feb. 23, "it was all systems go," said one source.

But as Esperon's reluctance grew and turned into resistance, the plan had to be aborted and Senga backed down and reported the plot to Ms Arroyo.

An exit plan was quickly prepared and put into action. Senga placed Lim under his custody.

Senga said that on the night of Feb. 23 he was only talking to Lim and Querubin. "They expressed a readiness, willingness to go to the rallies because they can't control their men anymore," recounted Senga.


Different version

He added that it was only Miranda who was around when Senga called the service commanders to dissuade Lim and Querubin from going ahead with their plan of withdrawal."

Michael Defensor, Ms Arroyo's chief of staff, has a different version of what happened.

In a phone interview, he said it was Lim who was trying to convince Senga to join the move to withdraw support from Ms Arroyo.

Defensor said the negotiations for Senga to join the plot to unseat Ms Arroyo went on until at one point, Senga put his foot down and told Lim that if the officers who planned to join the coup wouldn't back down, he would be forced to fight it with force.
"That's why he (Senga) arrested Danny (Lim)," said Defensor.

Defensor insisted that there was an alliance between Lim's group and the Left, as proven by the arrest of Magdalo leader Lt. Lawrence San Juan who was to meet with communist leaders in Batangas when government forces captured him.


No Red alliance

But Lim vehemently denied entering into an alliance with the Left. He said the Scout Rangers are fierce enemies of communist guerrillas and wouldn't even entertain thoughts of forming an alliance with them.

"The Rangers have suffered painful casualties in the hands of communist rebels. And the Rangers have inflicted so much harm on them. An alliance is out of the question," said one source.

"I'm surprised why Danny (Lim) keeps on denying the alliance with the Left," countered Defensor.

He said AFP officers loyal to Ms Arroyo, under Senga's instruction, have been keeping track of plots to unseat the President.

Lim's move, he said, was part of Oplan Hackle. With a report from Dona Pazzibugan





Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





Now it can be told: Who's who in civilian council

First posted 01:05am (Mla time) Mar 12, 2006
By Fe B. Zamora
Inquirer
http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=69074


Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the March 12, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


THE military plan to withdraw support from President Macapagal-Arroyo was described by Lt. Col. Alexander Balutan as a "constitutional rescue" resorted to because "the democratic institutions" had failed to resolve the political crisis spawned by basically two issues: The alleged cheating in the May 2004 elections and the "Hello Garci" tapes.

"It was not a coup or a power grab. It was a constitutional rescue which the Armed Forces would exercise in accordance with its constitutional mandate as protector of the state and defender of the people," Balutan, who testified at the Senate late last year over the 2004 poll fraud in Lanao, told the Inquirer.

A former Marine battalion commander, Balutan faces court-martial for disregarding a ban on government executives testifying at the Senate last year without Ms Arroyo's approval.

Inquirer sources in civil society and military groups involved in the planned breakaway on Feb. 24, confirmed that a "transition council" was to have assumed the functions of the "leadership" of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government immediately after President Macapagal-Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro were toppled.

The sources clarified that "only the leaders (of the executive, legislative and judicial branches) would be removed, the civil servants would stay.

The Inquirer sources' disclosures coincided with a report by the Philippine Army about a broad-spectrum leftist-and-rightist conspiracy to oust Ms Arroyo and replace her with an interim council.

According to one of the Inquirer's military sources, the council would have been "headed by General Senga, if he agreed."

(Senga has strongly denied that he would be in charge of a "caretaker government." He said he was not capable of running the government.)

President Arroyo's former executive secretary, Renato de Villa, and former Cabinet official Oscar Orbos, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, former Sen. Gregorio Honasan, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, defeated presidential candidate Bro. Eddie Villanueva were considered for the council.

But De Villa, a former AFP chief of staff, reportedly threatened to quit if exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison were allowed to sit in the council to represent the Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP), the Inquirer source said.

"E di kayo na lang diyan," the source, who was among the troops who planned to join the Feb. 24 march, quoted De Villa as saying.

According to the sources, Lacson was also in a bind because "he wanted to run in the snap election," violating a condition prohibiting council members from seeking elective posts as proof of their "purity of intentions."


Advisers

To complete the new interim administration, a group of advisers, possibly comprising former President Corazon Aquino, former President Fidel Ramos, retired Maj. Gen. Fortunato Abat and even former President Joseph Estrada, in case he was cleared of the plunder charges, would also be created


First edict

For its first edict, the council, composed (initially) of three to five members, would rule the results of the May 2004 election "null and void," declare the positions of President and Vice President vacant and call for a snap election at the earliest date possible, the sources said.

The declaration would be followed by a cleansing of the bureaucracy, especially the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ensure fair and honest elections, the sources said.

"That is the patriotic intention of the council," the source said, adding that the "work agenda was more important than the personalities."


'Get her out first'

He said the idea of a "collective leadership" was the result of a study and consultation made by the various groups who agreed to join the movement against Ms Arroyo.

"The important thing is to get her out first," he said.

The source said the effort to bring in Senga to head the council started days before Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim reportedly bared his plans to Senga that he was joining the people's march on Edsa on Feb. 24.


Primer on council

"General Senga was given a primer on the transition council with the program of government for the first 100 days. We don't know if he read it," the source said.

A former Arroyo official who crossed over to the opposition said that De Villa and Orbos "talked" to Senga about withdrawing support from Ms Arroyo.


Just like Angelo Reyes

It would be reprising what the then AFP chief of staff Gen. Angelo Reyes did. His breakaway in January 2001 resulted in the ouster of President Joseph Estrada.

"There is no law that says withdrawal of support is a crime," the former Arroyo official, who is also a lawyer, told the Inquirer.

He said this would explain why Lim was "so confident" in telling Senga about the plans of the junior officers to march at Edsa on Feb. 24, and his own plans to join the march.

De Villa, who had already denied a role in the so-called conspiracy, declined an Inquirer request for an interview, saying he needed to focus on his sick wife.

In the event that Senga refused to head the council, then a military oversight committee would be created along with the council, the sources said.

The military faction did not "realize the extent of infiltration" until the Feb. 26 standoff at the Philippine Marines headquarters.


Fair trial for GMA et al.

Aside from the snap election, another top item on the agenda was a "fair trial" for Ms Arroyo, Virgilio Garcillano, Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" Bolante and others who have been linked to the corruption and electoral fraud scandals under the Arroyo administration.

The sources said the trial of former President Estrada and the Oakwood mutineers would continue and would be resolved also within a given date.





Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





Now it can be told: Esperon was the 'key'

First posted 01:03am (Mla time) Mar 13, 2006
By Fe B. Zamora
Inquirer
http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=69169



Editor's Note: Published on Page A1 of the March 13, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


A SHOOTING WAR BETWEEN THE group that planned to withdraw support from President Macapagal-Arroyo and the military faction loyal to her would have pitted elite units against each other.

On one side--according to officers interviewed by the Inquirer--were the Philippine Marines under Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda and Col. Ariel Querubin, the Scout Rangers under Brig. Gen Danilo Lim, and the police Special Action Force under Chief Supt. Marcelo Franco.

On the other side were Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the Special Operations Command (Socom) and the Special Forces Regiment under Col. Arturo Ortiz, beefed up by troops under Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan of the 7th Infantry Division, and all the military assets in the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) under Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino.

In the middle stood AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Generoso Senga, balancing the forces and the events precariously.

In the end, it was Esperon's preemptive moves that tilted the balance in Ms Arroyo's favor.

One officer said the two factions, while ranged on opposite sides, had a "gentleman's agreement" that they would try to avoid bloodshed in order not to divide the Armed Forces.

Accounts about the configuration of military forces opposed to and supporting Ms Arroyo came from interviews with officers of various ranks. The officers did not want to be identified, citing a military directive restricting them from talking to the media.


Go-for-broke guy

Former Ambassador Roy Señeres, who helped the opposition link up with the military, conceded that Esperon's role was crucial.

"Esperon was 'go-for-broke' while Senga was vacillating," Señeres said.

Accounts by military insiders said that on the afternoon of Feb. 23, Lim and Querubin went to the office of Brig. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang, AFP deputy chief of staff for intelligence, for "a social call" and to answer questions about their links to rumored coup plots.

Maclang was told about the plans of junior and mid-level officers to join a people's march scheduled for the next day. Lim and Querubin also told Maclang they intended to join the activity.


Meeting of the generals

From Maclang's office, Lim and Querubin went to Senga and told him that they could not stop the young and mid-level officers from joining the march.

Senga did not oppose the plan, one source said.

After Lim and Querubin left, Senga called Esperon, Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Jose Reyes, Navy chief Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga and Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda for a conference.

Lim, Querubin and even Franco were asked to attend the conference at GHQ.


Follow the leader

Senga disclosed the plan of the young officers as told to him by Lim. Senga then asked the generals for their positions, according to one account.

Reyes, Mayuga and Esperon said they would "follow the decision of the chief of staff," the source said.

But Esperon also asked Lim to "make sure the critical mass is there before the military joins the people at Edsa," or he would oppose them, the source added.


Malacañang alerted

Lim, Esperon and all the generals present agreed to avoid bloodshed or any move that would "split the AFP," said the source.

Esperon also informed Malacañang about the planned breakaway, and alerted Tolentino and Palparan to "stop" any movement of troops coming from camps in Luzon to Manila.

Col. Art Ortiz, chief of the Socom and the Special Forces Regiment, was also ordered to account for his troops and make sure his unit was intact.


Chain of command

Esperon also ordered the Army in Fort Bonifacio to barricade the Marine headquarters and prevent the Marines from leaving.

It was checkmate for Lim and Querubin, who found themselves immobilized by Esperon's actions.

Esperon has denied involvement in any plot and said the chain of command was solidly behind Ms Arroyo.

Mayuga told the Inquirer it was not only Esperon but all the other service commanders who opposed the "withdrawal" plan, and stressed that the military leadership had always been behind the chain of command with Ms Arroyo as their Commander in Chief.

A "constitutionally grounded" officer, Reyes, for his part, "will never do anything" to violate the chain of command, the Air Force said.


All over

By the early morning of Feb. 24, Senga advised Lim to place himself under AFP custody and to remain in Maclang's office while awaiting instructions.

A few hours later, Ms Arroyo announced that her forces had thwarted a coup plot. She also declared a state of national emergency.





Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.




Now it can be told: Why 'withdrawal' plot failed -- PART I

Now it can be told: Who's who in civilian council -- PART II

Now it can be told: Esperon was the 'key' -- PART III





High Ground : Two military actions had their own transition councils

First posted 03:55am (Mla time) Mar 15, 2006
By William Esposo
INQ7.net
http://news.inq7.net/viewpoints/index.php?index=2&story_id=69442&col=69



THE Inquirer and INQ7.net ran a very interesting series that gave insights into the events surrounding the Feb. 24 aborted military action and the imposition of Proclamation 1017, which placed the country in a state of national emergency. The first of this “now it can be told” series, which ran from March 11 to 13, was written by TJ Bergonio. The second and third parts were written by my friend and former INQ7.net associate editor, Fe Zamora.

The contents of the three stories jibe with the information I had picked up from my own sources in the various civil society groups and the military -- sources that I’ve developed during my incumbency as chairman of the Council on Philippine Affairs (COPA). I relinquished my chairmanship and membership in COPA in November 2003 in order to focus on projects that are closer to my heart, which I’m now undertaking with the Focolare Movement. But the experience with COPA has provided me with invaluable and very reliable sources of information that I now benefit from as an INQ7.net columnist.

COPA had put together the broad coalition of forces that staged what eventually led to EDSA People Power II -- a coalition that spanned the forces of the Right (police and military) all the way to the forces of the Left, with the exception of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army. Joseph Estrada’s scandalous presidency and now Madame Gloria M. Arroyo’s regime of lies, repression and obfuscations are themselves the biggest factors in welding even diverse sectors to unite against the perceived evil before them.

Fe Zamora’s “Who’s who in the council” article of March 12 told about a plan for a transition council that was to be composed of (though not necessarily limited to) former vice president Tito Guingona, former executive secretary Rene de Villa, former senator Gringo Honasan, Senator Ping Lacson, former Cory Aquino Cabinet member and Pangasinan provincial governor Oscar Orbos and evangelist Brother Eddie Villanueva.

My own sources say, however, that there were two different courses for two separate military actions that were coming from two different groups. Each group had its own plan for a transition council. I believe that the transition council mentioned in Fe’s March 12 article was the one that pertains to the military action associated with Honasan.

There was another transition council that was planned by various civil society groups. I believe that this is the transition council that would have been aligned with the aborted military action of Feb. 24, the action that is now being linked with Brigadier General Danny Lim and Colonel Ariel Querubin.

This is also the transition council that was recently discussed over Ricky Carandang’s “The Big Picture” public affairs show on cable channel ANC, with former University of the Philippines president Dodong Nemenzo and Representative Risa H. Baraquel as guests.

The resistance to Madame Gloria M. Arroyo’s regime has developed into a very wide spectrum of opposition forces. There are the forces of the Right, the Moderates and the Left. The Left was notably absent when Ferdinand Marcos was removed. Then there are those who prefer to use constitutional processes in ousting her as well as those who are willing to take the extra-constitutional route to attain the same objective. Add to that the consistent 80 percent of respondents in surveys who believe that Madame Arroyo stole the 2004 presidency and the over 65 percent of survey respondents who want her ousted.

Contrary to claims of the Arroyo regime enjoys the support of the silent majority because of the absence of massive People Power protests, there is an overwhelming number of Filipinos who want Gloria M. Arroyo removed. The only reason this has not taken place is that people are wary about what and who will fill up the void once she is gone. Government is so blatantly and patently corrupt and people tend to think that anyone coming from government assures only that there will just be more of the same. On the other hand, nobody has emerged to provide acceptable leadership that can make a difference, given the present circumstances.

The political players opposed to Madame Arroyo know how many Filipinos want a regime change and are thus encouraged to press for her ouster. However, they fail to provide an acceptable package that the country will want to rally behind. This package includes the answers to the what, the "who" and the "how" questions that are foremost on people’s minds. People are seeking a genuine reform package, under a credible leadership via an acceptable change process.

Thus, it is not surprising that two separate military actions developed, with each having its own prescription for the composition of a transition council.

Ricky Carandang’s discussion with Nemenzo and Baraquel provided very good insights on the other transition council, which had the following features:

1. There will be no politician in the transition council.

2. The objective is not just leadership change but also system reform. The University of the Philippines' "Blueprint for a Viable Philippines: was cited as a starting point for the system reform.

3. The transition council will be civilian in nature and will not be a junta.

From these three features alone of (let’s call it the ‘No-politico transition council’ for identification purposes) the No-politico council, it is easy to see that this is distinct from the transition council with former politicians de Villa, Orbos, Honasan, Guingona, Villanueva and incumbent senator Lacson (De Villa and Villanueva ran in the 1998 and 2004 presidential elections, respectively, and lost) as members.

I have also good reason to believe that the junior officers gravitate towards the No-politico council rather than the Honasan et al. council. In all the previous pronouncements of the junior officers, they were consistent in stating that:

1. They want system reform.

2. They want to end not just the Arroyo regime but also the reign of the traditional politicians who are integral to the Philippine elite’s current monopoly of political and economic power.

The Arroyo regime has benefited from people’s general lack of understanding. This includes members of the middle class who should really be the pivotal force in steering the nation into meaningful system reforms. It is not surprising too that the regime appears intent in adding to the confusion by calibrated obfuscations.

Most notable of these ‘programmed confusions’ are as follows:

1. No distinction is made from that “Operation Hackle” military action that was exposed in early February and the Feb. 24 planned soldiers' protest march and withdrawal of support. I doubt if the regime is not aware that these are two different plans with different players behind them. I think that the regime purposely combines these threats, passing them off as one, in order to justify their overreaction in issuing Proclamation 1017 and the continued repression.

2. While there are many leftist groups opposing Gloria M. Arroyo, the regime intentionally links the armed CPP-NPA extreme Left with these civil society groups. This adds fuel to most Filipino’s knee-jerk panic over anything that hints of Communism. Majority of Filipinos do not realize that most of the leftist groups that operate legally are espousing ideas that are also accepted in many Western democracies and have been integrated into Western government policies. In truth, most of those who are considered Left are not communists. But most Filipinos do not know this and the Arroyo regime, just like the Marcos regime before it, capitalized on this ignorance.

3. Just as the regime points to all Leftists as Communists, they also attempt to make it appear that all military actions are coups. The Feb. 24 planned military action was not a coup, and it had nothing to do with the CPP-NPA. Generals Generoso Senga and Hermogenes Esperon Jr. have confirmed this.

The Feb. 24 plan was a "non-coup" and if ever the proponents of it are guilty of something, then it is of non-coup plotting.

The Feb. 24 plan had all the features of the EDSA People Power II script that placed Gloria M. Arroyo in Malacañang and was ruled then as constitutional. The Feb. 24 plan called for civil society groups and the military to converge at the EDSA Shrine and there the military would announce their withdrawal of support for Gloria M. Arroyo.

The same process was legal when it was used on Jan. 21, 2001, to install Gloria M. Arroyo as president. But the same process is now considered illegal when it was to be used last Feb. 24 to remove her.





Copyright 2006 INQ7.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





Lacson confirms offers to join transition body

First posted 04:24am (Mla time) Mar 13, 2006
By TJ Burgonio
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on page A2 of the Mar. 13, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


OPPOSITION Senator Panfilo Lacson yesterday confirmed he was asked to be part of the transition council that would have run the government immediately after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was ousted from power.

But Lacson said that he rebuffed the offers which were made by four separate groups, including one from the military.

"It's true I was approached by certain groups interested in ousting GMA (Ms Arroyo) to be part of a transition council, but I declined," he said in an interview.

According to Lacson, the groups from different sectors made the overtures between late October last year and early February this year. The last offer was for him to head the council, he said.

Lacson, who ran a well-oiled presidential campaign but lost to Ms Arroyo in the 2004 elections, said he consistently rejected the overtures because, in his view, such a council was "doomed to fail."

"In my book, it will fail. I don't want to be part of a failing group. That's what I told them," he said.

With its members coming from a broad spectrum of society, the council would be locked up in debates on individual concerns rather than focused on gut issues like reforms in government, Lacson recalled telling the groups.

"I argued that a council running the government would simply not work. It would not be better than a debating club continuously arguing on how to resolve even the most minor issues," he said.

The council, to be composed of 15 members at most, was supposed to rule for "1,000 days" or shorter, the senator said, quoting the groups' proposals.

Inquirer sources earlier disclosed that Lacson was among the personalities considered to be part of a transition government after Ms Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro shall have been toppled and until snap elections were called.

The others were AFP Chief of Staff General Generoso Senga, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, former Senator Gregorio Honasan, defeated presidential candidate Brother Eddie Villanueva and former Executive Secretary Renato de Villa.

The formation of the council was supposed to follow the planned withdrawal of support from the administration by key military officials on Feb. 24 and the subsequent resignation of Ms Arroyo and De Castro.





Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





Lacson, Villanueva confirm report on transition council

First posted 02:50am (Mla time) Mar 15, 2006
By Philip C. Tubeza, Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the Mar. 15, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


OPPOSITION Senator Panfilo Lacson yesterday confirmed an Inquirer report that a group of military officers had asked him to join a transition council that would have taken over President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's administration, but said he turned down the offer.

Lacson told the Inquirer that he turned it down, not because becoming a member of the council would have prevented him from running should a "snap" election be held, but because such a body could not "run the country effectively."

"It would be reduced to a debating club," he said. "Even in the most minor issue, the council members would have to first consult their groups before making a decision. And in the first place, how can [the military officers] assume that power will be given to them [later]?"

For his part, Brother Eddie Villanueva, leader of the Jesus Is Lord (JIL) Movement, said certain military officers had invited him to sit in a planned "caretaker government" or transition council.

The invitation was aired in a series of meetings from October 2005 to January this year, he said.

Villanueva, who lost in the 2004 presidential election, said he politely declined the offer of a seat in the council each time it was made.

For one, he said, he feared that the military officers in the council would be "intoxicated with power" and set up a military junta a la Burma (Myanmar).

For another, he said, it appeared to him that the plan was unclear, if not in disarray.

"I saw that it wasn't heading anywhere," Villanueva told the Inquirer yesterday. "My feeling was that there's no unity among the various opposition groups. Many, but not all, wanted to be the leader."


'They're many' in AFP

Lacson said the military officers were one of "at least four groups" that had sought his opinion on joining a transition council.

Two weeks after the purported coup plot of Feb. 24, he said, there was still "very widespread" restiveness in the Armed Forces, with the officers who spoke with him still undetected despite the ongoing crackdown.

"They're still inside and they're many. Maybe they are the residual threats that [Ms Arroyo has been mentioning]," said Lacson, a former Philippine National Police chief and a 1971 graduate of the Philippine Military Academy.

"[If the administration] sleeps on the job, [it] might be surprised that the restiveness is still very widespread. It's not yet over," he said.

Lacson said the restive military men were mostly "mid-level and junior officers."

"Their basic complaint is election cheating. They said the AFP was used during the elections, and they were asking why the generals involved were promoted while those who refused [to take part] were punished," he said.

Lacson said these officers had "first-hand" information about election cheating because some of them were "offered money" to participate in the alleged fraud, "but they refused."


Seizing power

While the major complaint of the officers was the alleged use of the AFP in election fraud, they have varying ideas on how to resolve the crisis and "how to go about seizing power," Lacson said.

He said that while some of them wanted to institute reforms only within the AFP, others wanted a hand in reforming political institutions should they come to power.

More ominously, Lacson said, some officers have "given up on politicians" because of what happened after the 2001 uprising that put Ms Arroyo in Malacañang.

He added: "They're asking, 'Why give power to politicians after what happened in 2001?' They feel that they were had. They turned over power to politicians, but nothing happened.

"What happened to [the reforms in] the AFP? Nothing."


Uncoordinated efforts

Villanueva said he still was not sold on the idea of allowing Ms Arroyo to complete her term amid allegations that she cheated in the 2004 presidential election.

He said "a simple yet seemingly elusive solution" was to have a clean and credible "snap" election, and for the winner to be supported by all.

"Many believe that Ms Arroyo's victory is a product of a stolen election so she doesn't enjoy a genuine mandate," Villanueva said. "The solution is to bring back to the Filipino people the right to choose their own leaders."

During the three-month period that several groups met with him, all aspired to end the political crisis, Villanueva said.

He said it appeared to him that such efforts were not coordinated but were coming from various opposition groups, including "8 to 10" active and retired military officials, such as a general and a colonel.

Villanueva said these military men had "no plan to sit in the caretaker government" because they knew that they had "no competence to manage the government."

He said the plan was to seize power from the Arroyo administration and eventually transfer it to civilian authority.


60, 90, 1,000 days

Villanueva said the groups' proposals for the holding of a "snap" election ranged from 60 to 90 to 1,000 days after Ms Arroyo's ouster.

There was also a commitment that whoever would sit in the council would be barred from running "in the next immediate election," he said.

Still, Villanueva declined: "I didn't want to be dragged into something that might unwittingly lead to bloodshed. I didn't want to sin before God."

He said the invitations he had received were ostensibly part of an effort to consolidate the groups and sectors seeking Ms Arroyo's ouster.

He was also an attractive choice for an ally, given that he commands the support of the three-million-strong JIL movement, the Bangon Pilipinas party and the Philippines for Jesus Coalition Movement, a network of around 4,000 born-again churches.

Villanueva said he had told the groups of his reservation that a "snap" election might not be forthcoming once they had wrested power.

He said he told them: "What guarantee do we have that there would be genuine change, that we would return to constitutional democracy? Who are these people who will sit in the caretaker government? Are they incorruptible and of proven integrity?"


Whole story

Malacañang is confident that once the "whole story" of the purported coup plot of Feb. 24 is revealed, the public will appreciate why Ms Arroyo declared a state of national emergency.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Ms Arroyo was standing by Presidential Proclamation No. 1017 which, the opposition and legal experts had said, lacked factual basis for the grant of emergency powers to make warrantless arrests and crack down on a critical newspaper.

"We respect what people have to say about the declaration of the state of emergency, but we are certain that as the whole story unfolds about the broad conspiracy to tear down the democratic government, they will understand that the President acted just in time and in commensurate measure in the interest of national security and stability," Bunye said.

He urged the people to "trust our system of laws and the institutions that continue to serve them with complete sincerity and concern for their welfare." With a report from Gil Cabacungan Jr.





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