Corpus on to coup plot since June

Since June, Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus had been on to the coup plot being hatched by AFP junior officers recruited into "The Last Revolution." As chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), he directed the gathering of field information, collated reports from various military units, and analyzed unauthorized troop movements.

Among the moves he monitored was the distribution to the coup recruits of a supposed Malacañang memo, long denounced as spurious, directing the defense secretary to "capture and occupy within one week the (Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s) Buliok complex fronting the Liguasan Marsh."

Antedated Feb. 11, 2003, it was later to be used as supposed proof of the plotters that Corpus had a hand in the Davao City airport bombing last March 2. It was one of their many preposterous accusations, but Corpus viewed it just the same as reason "to get out of the picture."

On the eve of the coup strike that fizzled into a holdout in Makati, Corpus gave his last briefing on his intelligence findings. Leaders of civil society groups, to whom President Arroyo had confided about the coup Friday night, requested for it in the presence of Cardinal Jaime Sin.

Corpus first gave a background: "The plot was discovered in early June when the intelligence community monitored rampant recruitment of junior officers by a still unknown group. The recruitment was complemented by a series of meetings in various parts of the country. In Luzon some of the meetings were attended by Senator (Gregorio) Honasan. Two of the meetings, one in Robinsons Galleria Suites in the first week of June and the other in an old house in San Juan on June 12, were presided over by the senator. It was during the June 12 meeting when attendees, through a blood ritual, took oaths of allegiance as ‘New Filipino Heroes’ to implement their so-called ‘Last Revolution.’"

The ritual consisted of carving with a knife the old alibata (alphabet) letter K, the symbol in the AFP coat of arms, on their left arm.

It was called Duguan (blood-letting). They used their blood to affirm their names on the oath and mark their banner while reciting the prayer of the New Filipino Hero.

Corpus then detailed his latest findings up to that Saturday of the briefing. "They already have implemented part of their plan to mobilize to Metro Manila forces from among various points of the country," he said.

Among these:

• On July 23 a 24-man platoon of Army Scout Rangers from the 1st and 10th companies, a Marine platoon and two men from the Navy Special Warfare Action Group (SWAG) boarded SuperFerry 2 from Zamboanga. Only 14 of the Rangers have orders for retraining (in Luzon).

On the night of July 24, Capt. Gerardo Gambala (president of Philippine Military Class of ’95) took his belongings from the quarters of a classmate and was at that time believed to be hiding in Makati.

• On the morning of July 25, two units of Rangers totaling 28 men led Lts. Jose Dingle and Warren Dagupon (of the 4th and 12 companies, respectively) boarded a Cebu Pacific flight to Manila. The group was picked up by private vehicles and proceeded to Virra Mall in Greenhills, San Juan.

• Also on July 25, several Scout Rangers in civvies were monitored to be surveying areas in Makati’s central business district and Greenhills in San Juan.

• On the evening of July 25, Lt. Lawrence San Juan of the Army Light Reconnaissance Company and two men stole out of their Fort Magsaysay headquarters in Nueva Ecija with two M240 machine guns and two M24 sniper rifles. Another two officers and nine men of the Sniper Class left their Fort Magsaysay training area without permission, bringing with them four Barret and three Crowbar sniper rifles. Their whereabouts could not be determined at that time.

Aside from Gambala, Dingle, Dagupon and San Juan, Corpus also noted other officers who suddenly went missing: Navy Lts. (senior grade) Antonio Trillanes IV and James Layug, Capts. Laurence Somera, Milo Maestrecampo and Albert Baloloy, and 1Lt. Florentino Somera.

Corpus analyzed that dialogues with most of the recruits could have convinced them to disengage from the coup plot. But media releases that the coup had been averted could also have emboldened the rest to accelerate their power-grab. Corpus assessed that they had the capability to conduct pocket disturbances and take over radio and television stations. He thus recommended that arrest warrants be issued on the missing officers.

On the afternoon of Saturday, Corpus told this writer: "This is more serious than you may think. I believe that they will strike in Makati. We are monitoring them to be around Makati."

Before daybreak Sunday, 296 officers and men took over the Oakwood Premier Ayala Center luxury hotel and planted bombs around the perimeter. Demanding the resignation of the President, they claimed that among their beef was that Corpus was part of the Davao bombings. Their proof: the Malacañang memo to the defense chief ordering the taking of the MILF camp. Yet presidential adviser on the peace process Eduardo Ermita, a supposed recipient of a copy of the order, has long been denying it as fake. In a television interview with this writer last June, Ermita said the format of the memo does not conform with usual Malacañang communications. He said he suspected the letter to have been manufactured by the MILF sometime in May, when calls were loud to have it listed as an international terrorist organization.

Corpus in turn said the fake memo was the concoction of the political leaders of the coup plotters.

Before flying to Seoul Monday afternoon, Corpus had one last interview with this writer. He sounded rested from the fizzled "weekend coup." He also laughed at the accusation on the Davao bombing. He said he was challenging Honasan to a public polygraph test — he on the bombing and the senator on the latter’s role in the coup.