Senga gets coup report

It is now official: the report of a fact-finding panel on the failed power grab last Feb. 24 is in the hands of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief, Gen. Generoso Senga.

AFP Inspector General Rear Admiral Rufino Lopez, who chairs the ad hoc investigation committee, turned the report over to Senga yesterday at the Army headquarters at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.

Senga was at Fort Bonifacio to preside over a media presentation of the Magdalo rebel officers arrested in a dawn raid in Quezon City yesterday.

"Congratulations for finishing this expeditiously. I will take a look at this and let the public know," Senga told Lopez after he received the 43-page report.

In an interview with reporters, Senga declined to discuss the report, saying he had not read it yet.

"I will review this. I will study it. I will look at the recommendations, if there is a need for some people to go through court-martial, then I will order the conduct of a pre-trial investigation. After that, charges will be filed then the court-martial proceedings will be done," he said.

The report now in Senga’s hands is 10 pages longer compared to a copy of a 33-page report earlier leaked to The STAR and ABS-CBN by sources in the intelligence community.

The 33-page report, which Senga claimed was unofficial, recommended that 38 officers and 27 enlisted personnel be court-martialed.

Aside from this, the fact-finding board also recommended that appropriate charges be filed against the officers before civilian courts.

Leading the list of those recommended by the board to face court-martial were former Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Marine Col. Ariel Querubin.

The report tagged Lim and Querubin as the organizers of a botched Feb. 24 uprising, in which they planned to withdraw their support from President Arroyo during the 20th anniversary ceremony for EDSA 1.

Querubin also led a standoff at the Marine headquarters at Fort Bonifacio on Feb. 26 to protest Miranda’s sudden relief.

In a hastily called news conference on Tuesday, Lopez said there was no final report yet but he would neither confirm nor deny the contents of the alleged draft.

Lopez added that some of names mentioned in the supposed draft were not the subject of his investigation.

The Lopez board started its work in early April following its creation, as ordered by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz.

A military officer, reportedly among those positioned behind Lim when he videotaped his withdrawal of support from Mrs. Arroyo, denied his participation in it and claimed he lost one of his military uniforms.

Brig. Gen. Juanario Caringal, deputy commander of the 1st Marine Brigade based in Lanao, told sources of The STAR that he is set to issue an affidavit that he lost one of his uniforms and that it could have been used by the man who stood behind Lim in the video, where his nameplate is clearly seen.

Caringal did not appear yesterday at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), where he and Lim were summoned to appear as part of an investigation.

Sources close to Caringal said he asked that his appearance be rescheduled because his lawyer was not available.

Asked why Caringal was being implicated in destabilization efforts against the government, the source said "Pinag-iinitan siya because he is known to be close to Danny (Lim) and Ariel (Querubin)."

Caringal and his elder brother at the Philippine National Police, Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, now regional director of Western Mindanao, were tagged in unconfirmed reports as being involved in destabilization efforts, which the elder Caringal has denied.

At the height of destabilization efforts, the Caringal brothers were reassigned to far-flung areas in Mindanao. Neither objected to their assignments to dispel rumors that they were involved in plots to destabilize the government.

No link

Meanwhile, businessman Iñigo Zobel has denied involvement in the failed Feb. 24 coup attempt and said he intends to sue former ambassador Roy Señeres for dragging his name into the alleged plot to oust Mrs. Arroyo, a government official said.

Zobel, who sits on the board of San Miguel Corp., made the denial through his friend, Undersecretary for Local Governance Antonio Villar Jr., in a phone conversation the other night.

Villar told The STAR that when he talked to Zobel, he even passed the phone to Pangasinan Rep. Generoso Tulagan, who was with him at the time, to also speak to the businessman.

Villar said Zobel, who is in Spain on business matters, corroborated the statements made by Felipe Cruz Jr., another businessman implicated by Señeres.

Villar said Zobel told him that he and Cruz were indeed having a business partnership meeting at Cruz’s residence when Señeres suddenly arrived uninvited, accompanied by a mutual friend.

Villar added that Zobel will remain in Spain until the end of August but reportedly indicated that he is willing to face any probe regarding this matter to clear his name.

Señeres alleged that Zobel, Cruz, ABC-5 television station chairman Antonio Cojuangco, former executive secretary Oscar Orbos and former defense secretary Renato de Villa are civilian supporters of Lim.

At the NBI, regional director Reynaldo Esmeralda said they sent a subpoena to Señeres Thursday afternoon and that he was able to talk to the former ambassador.

"He said he is was willing and prepared to execute a sworn statement on his interview" with a newspaper, Esmeralda said.

He added that Señeres could be the government’s state witness, but only if his testimony is exhaustive.

To comply with a directive issued by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Esmeralda said they will question all personalities identified by Señeres as allegedly involved in the failed coup attempt.

They will also call on reporter Nelly Sindayen to shed light on her article about a meeting in which the businessmen discussed a plot to oust Mrs. Arroyo.

"We will relay to her lawyer our interest to invite her," Esmeralda said, but noted they would have to gain the permission of her editors at Hong Kong’s Time Asia magazine.

Probe Señeres claim

Meanwhile, majority bloc congressmen asked the House committee on national defense and security to conduct an immediate probe into Señeres’ allegation that several opposition personalities allegedly pushed Lim to withdraw his support from Mrs. Arroyo, and even financed his anti-government activities.

Reps. Monico Puentevella of Bacolod City and Edwin Uy of Isabela said in a joint statement they were set to file a resolution seeking a probe to compel Señeres to reveal his knowledge under oath.

They said the Department of Justice should file charges of inciting to sedition against Señeres and several known personalities whom he said had backed Lim, including businessmen Antonio Cojuangco and Zobel, former transportation secretary Oscar Orbos, and former executive secretary Renato de Villa.

Cojuangco, Orbos and De Villa earlier denied any involvement in the failed coup.

Puentevella said the alleged instigators and financiers of the foiled coup must face the music like Lim, who submitted himself to a fact-finding probe before the military.

"The House should dig deeper into this and if it is true that these prominent individuals were behind Lim, then they must be charged in court and the government must be on guard against them to ensure that they won’t succeed in their bid to overthrow the Arroyo administration," he said.

Puentevella and Uy said it was vital to prosecute all guilty parties to drive home the message that everyone should respect the constitutional role of members of the Armed Forces and their non-partisan nature.

"The opposition should not use our soldiers to further their political goals or ambition. And to our soldiers, please shun the overtures of politicians and just focus on your duty to protect our national security," they said.

Uy said it is the duty of Congress to probe the alleged involvement of several opposition personalities in the failed Feb. 24 coup plot to help in the prosecution of those involved in the conspiracy to overthrow the Arroyo administration and come up with remedial legislation to totally insulate the Armed Forces from partisan politics.

"Those who pushed Lim over to outright sedition and rebellion should be charged as principals as well. Señeres’ identification of Lim’s backers and financiers validated intelligence reports that the political opposition was involved in the grand conspiracy to oust the President during the EDSA 1 anniversary this year," he said.

Uy said Señeres’ allegations must be refuted by other parties he has also implicated in the plot to overthrow the government.

"His admission jibes with earlier intelligence reports. Those who were pinpointed must answer at the proper forum," he said.

Two other lawmakers appealed to Catholic Church, academe and civil society leaders not to let themselves be used by opposition leaders who are hungry to regain power.

Reps. Salacnib Baterina of Ilocos Sur and Exequiel Javier of Antique said the public should not be deceived by opposition politicians professing their innocence, because much evidence exists of unlawful Arroyo ouster plots supposedly masterminded by deposed President Joseph Estrada.

Baterina and Javier, both lawyers, said the videotape of Lim declaring his withdrawal of support from Mrs. Arroyo and the integral role played by Estrada lawyer Rufus Rodriguez in the failed coup plot are just the latest links in a chain leading back to the opposition’s involvement in a campaign to oust Mrs. Arroyo, which dates as far back as EDSA 3 and the Oakwood mutiny.

Baterina said the negative impact and divisiveness of the opposition attempts to unlawfully regain power show that Mrs. Arroyo is still the best bet to protect the country’s democracy and promote progress.

As the circumstances behind Lim’s withdrawal of support from the President are coming to light, Baterina said, the opposition’s principal role in the Feb. 24 coup has become even clearer.

"This should enlighten the President’s critics within the Church, academe and civil society groups not to be deceived. At the very least, they should be fair and supportive of her," he said.

Javier said the alleged involvement of opposition figures in the coup plot once again revealed the opposition’s agenda of negative and destructive politics.

"The President’s critics should wake up and look closely at the opposition leaders who are hungry to grab power from the administration. The people should be wary of the unholy alliance between (Estrada), the communist insurgents, ultra-right coup plotters, and their crony businessman allies, which will lead to nothing but anarchy and chaos," he said.

Javier said the people should continue supporting the President to ensure continuity of reforms and fulfillment of her pro-people, pro-development agenda till 2010.

‘Impeachment raps baseless’

Local officials, on the other hand, asked those set to sign up for more serialized impeachment complaints to dump their plan.

Liga ng mga Barangay president James Marty Lim said Señeres’ admission and Lim’s videotape are "smoking guns" proving that there was indeed a conspiracy to destabilize her administration.

"The plot to overthrow the government justified (Mrs.) Arroyo’s issuance of Proclamation 1017, declaring a state of national emergency. But the endorsers of the second complaint said the President’s action was an impeachable offense constituting a betrayal of public trust and transgression of the Charter," he said.

Albay Vice Gov. James Calisin, spokesman for the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), said the second complaint has collapsed in the light of this new evidence, especially because the repeat filing of charges last week focused on Mrs. Arroyo’s alleged "betrayal of public trust" when she issued the proclamation and other presidential directives.

He added that, as for the rest of the charges, the opposition is well aware that these are rehashed complaints that were thrown out by Congress last year.

Calisin said the opposition’s serialized filing of new complaints, which will reportedly end on July 24, is largely viewed as a publicity stunt meant to mask its weak support in Congress because the charges lack legal basis.

Agusan del Sur Gov. Adolf Edward Plaza said too much politicking has not only stifled the country’s economic growth, but has also limited the creation of decent-paying jobs for talented Filipinos, who are left with no option but to seek better opportunities abroad.

He said this is the reason why local officials are leading the campaign to amend the Constitution — the gridlock can only be solved by abolishing Congress and shifting to a unicameral parliamentary system.

"Unless out gridlock-wracked political structure is jettisoned in favor of a parliamentary government that spells executive-legislative harmony, things will never change for the better because of an overdose of politicking by people who are resisting genuine political and economic reforms," Plaza said. — Jaime Laude, Evelyn Macairan, Christina Mendez