Coup Trial In Philipines

Philippine president quashes dissident military officers' move against her

MANILA (AP): President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo quickly quashed her latest crisis, dispatching troops and SWAT teams Thursday when dissident military officers commandeered a five-star hotel after walking out of their coup trial.

The officers, who demanded that Arroyo resign over allegations that her government is corrupt, agreed to surrender as clouds of tear gas rose from the lobby of the Peninsula hotel. Security forces used an armored personnel carrier to smash through the roped-shut front doors and fired volleys of warning shots.

Soon after the seven-hour incident ended, the government announced a midnight-5 a.m. curfew for Manila and the surrounding area while follow-up operations are conducted, with checkpoints set up and the military and police on red alert.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said he hoped the curfew would only be enforced for one night.

At least two people were injured during the assault of the hotel in Makati, Manila's business district. A leader of the dissident officers agreed to leave peacefully to avoid bloodshed.

"There's no loss here," said Antonio Trillanes, a former navy officer who was elected to the Senate in May, campaigning from detention. "We just did what has to be done. It is tantamount to treason if I don't do anything. If somebody lost here, it's the whole nation."

The military men and their civilian sympathizers - including former Vice President Teofisto Guingona - were led in groups to waiting police buses. It was not immediately clear if they were being arrested or taken in for questioning. Several journalists also were detained.

Arroyo offered reassurances that the government is stable and claimed the military is loyal to her.

"Again and again we have shown to the world the stability of the institutions of our democracy and the strength of this government," she said on national television.

"Wrong and misguided deeds of the few do not speak for the people or the army and police," Arroyo added. "The full force of the law will be meted out without any concession."

The first shots erupted about 75 minutes after a deadline passed for the men to surrender in the face of contempt of court warrants filed against them.

At least one dissident soldier, distinguishable by a red armband, crouched inside the hotel lobby, his finger near the trigger of an M-16 rifle. Many journalists refused a request from the president's spokesman that they leave.

Joined by other dissident officers and leaders from the opposition and the left, the coup defendants clearly were trying to foster the Philippines' third "people power" revolt, making phone calls and sending cell phone text messages seeking to generate crowds to support them.

But as the day wore on and hotel guests were evacuated, few people turned out for the latest effort to oust Arroyo, who has survived at least three coup plots and three impeachment efforts during nearly seven tumultuous years in power.

Asked if he had a message for Arroyo, Trillanes said: "Sooner or later, the time of reckoning will come."

The trial for Trillanes and his co-defendants is over a 2003 insurrection in which troops commandeered a shopping center and hotel and demanded Arroyo's ouster. They denounced the government and military corruption, but were accused of staging a failed coup. They surrendered after the daylong uprising.

Escorted by military police, who apparently did not prevent them from leaving the court, the defendants marched to the Peninsula hotel, pushed away guards at the entrance, and set up a command center in a second-floor function room. Armed guards were set up on stairways from the lobby.

They were joined by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim - suspected of involvement in another failed coup plot last year - along with dozens of sympathizers within the military and leaders of leftist and opposition groups.

Lim issued a statement urging Arroyo to resign and asking the armed forces to withdraw support for her.

"Mrs. Arroyo stole the presidency from Estrada, and later manipulated the results of 2004 elections," Lim said.

Arroyo took over when President Joseph Estrada was ousted in the second "people power" revolt in January 2001, and opponents have criticized the legitimacy of her rule ever since. She also has been fighting allegations that she rigged the 2004 elections that gave her a six-year term.

After agreeing to surrender, Trillanes said he was convinced that other officers in the always-restive military are fed up with government corruption and won't stay quiet.

"Eventually it will be their turn to live up to their mandate as protectors of the people," he said. (**)

by : www.jakartapost.com