Escaped mutineers planning to strike soon

Three fugitive military officers have warned President Arroyo that soldiers plotting to overthrow the administration would "make their presence felt" in the coming days.

Interviewed for the ABS-CBN television show "Probe" early yesterday morning, 1Lt. Sonny Sarmiento said they are "coming out" to show the public that "we junior officers are still here" and cannot be bought off.

"We are still continuing our fight," he said.

The Makabayang Kawal Pilipino (MKP) spokesman told host Che Che Lazaro that once the present government is toppled, they would install former senator Gregorio Honasan in the caretaker government that they plan to set up.

"We have a timeframe," he said. "In the first 1,000 days, we will overhaul all branches of government to give way to a new order which will be for the people."

As a renegade Army colonel, Honasan led a series of coups against President Corazon Aquino, and in a bloody uprising in 1989, he almost toppled the government.

Honasan, who carries a P5-million bounty on his head, is now in hiding after the government charged him with the crime of coup d’état.

In a separate audiotape, an Oakwood mutineer who asked not to be named said a military plot to unseat Mrs. Arroyo was doomed without the support of the public.

"We failed because we did not have popular support," he said. "That’s the lesson we learned after Oakwood."

Audiotapes of 1Lt. Patricio Bumidang Jr. and 2Lt. Angelbert Gay, an officer who was dropped from the rolls last Jan. 16, were also played.

"After this, I want to lead a quiet life, spend time with my family and start a business," Bumidang said.

"When we decided to go out, we saw the wrongs in government," Gay said. "We wanted nothing else but to serve the country the best way we knew how."

Sarmiento said their group is open to talks with leftist leaders under the context of a common objective.

In reaction to Sarmiento’s declaration the military assured it would not allow any armed group to destabilize the government.

"We will face them head-on," Maj. Gen. Jose Angel Honrado, AFP spokesman, said.

Earlier Honrado said the military rebels do not have the capability to carry out their destabilization plot against the government.

"They may be noisy but they don’t have the muscle," he said.

On Sarmiento’s declaration that they are not closing doors to discussions with the left, Honrado said that this confirms reports that the Magdalo or MKP had links with the New People’s Army.

"Is that an admission from them that they do have links with the CPP-NPA if they are open for talks with them?" he said in phone interview, referring to local communist factions.

"I would like to presume that is an admission that they are initiating the links with the CPP-NPA by that statement."

Sarmiento told Lazaro that they were open to negotiations with the left as long as it was within the context of peace.

"The government is negotiating with them (CPP-NPA) too," he said.

Sarmiento said Honasan has been an inspiration for their group.

"In our view, he (Honasan) has the ability to be a member of the transition council that we are establishing. We believe that he is fighting for genuine reforms."

However, Honrado said Sarmiento and his group should look for a better choice than Honasan.

"If they feel that former senator Honasan is their best candidate, they should look for someone better," he said.

In the same interview, Sarmiento told Lazaro that their group felt the same way about Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Honasan and Lacson are both from the political opposition and classmates at the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1971.

Sarmiento said the MKP is composed of soldiers and civilians "who aim to further meaningful change."

When asked how many members were in the MKP, Sarmiento said numbers were no longer important, though he hinted that they had support from within the AFP.

"Quantity is not important in an organization as long as we know what we are fighting for," he said.

Sarmiento escaped from a military stockade in Fort Bonifacio, Makati last Jan. 17 with Capt. Nathaniel Rabonza, Bumidang and 1Lt. Lawrence San Juan.

San Juan, who first acted as MKP spokesman, was captured in an intelligence sting in Padre Garcia town, Batangas on Feb. 21.

Following his arrest, military and police authorities claimed to have recovered from San Juan documents pertaining to "Oplan Hackle."

Oplan Hackle, according to military authorities, was a grand plot hatched jointly by the leftist and rightist groups to bring down the Arroyo administration.

In the same interview, Sarmiento belied the government’s claim of a tie-up between the MKP and the NPA, and branded Oplan Hackle as a "military fiction."

Sarmiento also questioned the allegations of his former comrade, Army Capt. Gerardo Gambala, that their group had forged an alliance with the left a few months after the July 27, 2003 mutiny.

"(Oplan Hackle) is a fiction concocted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines," he said.

The supposed operational plan could be the handiwork of the intelligence community, AFP chief Gen. Generoso Senga, or Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., he added.

It was "impossible" for Gambala to have been approached by leftist groups since he was detained at the maximum security cell of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City after the Oakwood uprising, Sarmiento said.

When asked if the MKP was connected with Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, who was dismissed as Scout Ranger regiment commander,

Sarmiento said: "Danny Lim’s name came up only on Feb. 24. We are talking with them about our reform agenda."

He did not elaborate.

Lim and 19 others were recommended for court-martial for allegedly planning to join the Feb. 24 anti-government marches.

On the other hand, Marine Col. Ariel Querubin was investigated for leading the Feb. 26 standoff, which was sparked by the sudden relief of former Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda. — Jaime Laude