Guardians sign peace pact with DND, AFP

Some 100 officials and members of the Philippine Guardians Brotherhood Inc. (PGBI) trooped to Camp Aguinaldo yesterday to sign a covenant of peace with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Department of National Defense.

The Guardians — led by retired Col. Virgilio Briones, PGBI vice president for Luzon, and retired Col. Romeo Lazo, PGBI vice president for Metro Manila and Rizal — expressed their commitment to uphold the rule of law and protect the government.

The PGBI is closely associated with opposition Sen. Gregorio Honasan, who has been charged with the crime of coup d’etat.

Lazo and Briones voluntarily surrendered to Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes on Thursday after they were linked to July 27’s failed mutiny.

Briones told reporters that had they wished to join the failed mutiny, they could have ordered 10,000 of their members join the rebel soldiers in five hours.

"Guardians are unified under one goal. We will never exchange our principles with goals that will destabilize the government. We will always help to attain peace," he said.

Reyes and AFP chief Gen. Narciso Abaya appreciated the gesture made by the Guardians.

"This is a truly significant occasion in the light of recent developments," Abaya said.

The officers and members of PGBI, through the covenant, agreed to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, support government programs to alleviate poverty, fight graft and corruption and promote economic recovery and the general welfare of the people.

The PGBI also expressed their commitment to maintain peace and order, as well as serve and protect government institutions and democratic processes. They renounced the use of violence, force and intimidation to achieve political objectives.

Reyes said last month’s mutiny was doomed to fail since it lacked the support of the PGBI and the general public.

"They (mutineers) did not have the support of the organization (PGBI). What more of the masses? What they did had no support," he said.

He added that the PGBI’s officers and members "are with the government, with the administration."

The PGBI, 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 PGBI has 1.2 million members in Luzon, with 25,320 based in Metro Manila.

Another PGBI leader, Chief Inspector Leborio Jangao Jr. of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said Wednesday that some of their members informed him about the coup plot as early as June this year.

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