‘Gringo boys’ surrender to DND chief

Two senior leaders of the Philippine Guardians Brotherhood Inc. (PGBI) closely identified with opposition Sen. Gregorio Honasan voluntarily surrendered yesterday after they were linked to the failed mutiny last July 27.

Retired military colonels Romeo Lazo and Virgilio Briones, along with some of their men, presented themselves before Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes at Camp Aguinaldo to deny their involvement in the failed military uprising.

"We’re here to clear our names as flashed on television and the newspapers as being involved in the Makati incident. We’re here voluntarily surrendering ourselves to prove our innocence and show our support to the government," Briones told Reyes.

He also said the PGBI will never allow any moves against duly constituted authority.

Lazo, for his part, said they do not have any knowledge of the mutiny.

"That’s why we are here voluntarily submitting ourselves because our conscience is clean," he said.

Lazo and Briones are the second batch of former military officials close to Honasan to deny their involvement in the mutiny.

Honasan himself has gone underground to evade arrest on coup d’etat charges filed against him by the government. He was monitored last week in Sariaya, Quezon.

The other day, retired Col. Ernesto Macahiya and George Duldulao, Honasan’s former chief of staff, also came out to deny any links to the soldiers who staged the mutiny.

Lazo and Briones "are here to announce that the PGBI will not participate in any move to destabilize or overthrow the government," Reyes said.

Reyes also claimed that the two retired military officials called on their members not to follow any illegal or unconstitutional orders from any leader of the military-civilian fraternity.

The fraternity, formed in the early 1980s, is divided into several factions and is composed mainly of active and retired military and police personnel.

However, after the fall of the Marcos regime and several failed coup attempts against then President Corazon Aquino, the fraternity allowed civilian members into its ranks. The group’s membership has ballooned to 1.8 million. Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño said Tuesday if Honasan and his co-respondents in the coup d’etat charges fail to answer the subpoena to file their counter-affidavits, the affidavit filed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) will "remain unrebutted." In cases where the charges are not countered, they are normally elevated to court.

The Department of Justice also created a five-man panel of prosecutors to handle the preliminary investigation of the case against the senator and more than 1,000 officers and members of the PGBI.

Named in the complaint filed by the CIDG are Honasan, Macahiya, Ret. Capt. Felix Turingan, Lazo and Briones.

Duldulao and one Lina Reyes were also charged with rebellion along with 1,000 John and Jane Does.

Under the rules of court, respondents are given 10 days from receipt of the subpoena to file their counter-affidavits.

After the respondents file their counter-affidavits, the DOJ’s panel of prosecutors will conduct hearings as part of the preliminary investigation.

Earlier, the Guardians International central executive council voiced its support for Reyes and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

The Guardian’s central executive council, in a statement, expressed full support for Ebdane, Reyes, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Narciso Abaya and Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr.

The Guardians also said they do not support any move to destabilize the Arroyo administration nor calls for the ouster of President Arroyo.

The Guardians International is a confederation of 12 national branches, 11 national sectoral organizations and seven special groups, to which PGBI belongs.

The confederation’s central executive council recognizes Chief Inspector Leborio Jangao Jr. of the PNP-CIDG as its "Grand Master Founder God-Father."

Jangao said Wednesday that members of the PGBI, a group he formed with Honasan, informed him about the coup plot as early as June.

Jangao recalled that during the EDSA revolution of 1986, the Guardians supported the Reform the Armed Forces Movement founded by then Lt. Col. Honasan.

He said some factions of the Guardians went separate ways after Honasan launched several coup attempts against the Aquino administration.

Jangao said that when the PGBI was formed in March 2000 as a non-stock, non-profit corporation registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he gave way to Honasan to be the national chairman. He and other leaders of the PGBI withdrew their support of Honasan after one year, claiming that the senator failed to unify the various factions of Guardians.