‘All coup plotters to be jailed’

TAGAYTAY CITY – With the arrest of the leader of most coup plots in the country, President Arroyo said Filipinos "must put coup threats in the dustbin of history, and coup plotters in jail."

Mrs. Arroyo said she hoped the arrest of former senator and Army colonel Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan would bring political stability to the country and lead to a further improvement of the economy.

"I hope there will be no more destabilizing of our democracy and our economy," Mrs. Arroyo said in a statement commending police for the arrest of Honasan.

"The people are tired of adventurism and seek opportunities to move up and forward in an atmosphere of political stability," the President said in a speech at the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas’ Top Level Management Conference here.

She said the arrest of Honasan would start "the long journey of the Philippines to First World (status) in the next two decades."

Two former military officers and close associates of Honasan – Jake Malajacan and Felix Turingan, also wanted in the February coup attempt against Mrs. Arroyo – are now the focus of a massive manhunt by government.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, for his part, said there would be no deals with those who had coddled Honasan and his co-accused in the coup attempts.

Puno claimed most of those who had helped the fugitive former lawmaker were personal friends, former comrades from the uniformed services and a few active military officers.

Dozens of opposition activists as well as military personnel have been charged since Mrs. Arroyo accused them in February of plotting to oust her.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the arrest of Honasan further weakened any attempts to launch coup attempts against the administration.

"We are not discounting the possibility that anyone could act on their own, but the arrest of the former senator, who is acting as their figurehead would somehow have a negative impact on the organization," AFP information office chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said.

He said the AFP has not monitored any adverse reaction on the capture of Honasan, who went into hiding for nine months after he was implicated in the foiled destabilization attempts.

Bacarro stressed the arrest of Honasan was a welcome development for the military.

He claimed no negative reaction came from the ranks of the military.

"Even those whom he had previously worked with are welcoming the development. There was no negative reaction on their part," Bacarro said.

At the same time, Bacarro declared Turingan may be the next to fall.

He said the intelligence community has already taken leads on the possible whereabouts of Turingan and the other suspected coup leaders.

"We have ongoing efforts to track down the other fugitives. We are confident that somehow, no matter how elusive they might be, the long arm of the law would catch them," Bacarro said.

Bacarro clarified Malajacan is not the subject of ongoing intelligence efforts since only Turingan was covered by a warrant of arrest issued by the court.

Turingan and Malajacan were both named by renegade Army 1Lt. Lawrence San Juan in the foiled Feb. 24 coup attempt.

San Juan was among the junior officers that were allegedly involved in the power grab and now facing charges before military and civilian courts.

San Juan was also the Army officer who directly linked Honasan to the February destabilization plots.

The charismatic Honasan, 58, in 1986 led a group of junior officers in fomenting popular unrest against the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who got wind of the plot and ordered the military to crush the conspirators holed up at AFP headquarters.

The impending arrest triggered the events that led to the historic first EDSA revolution that ousted Marcos from power and installed opposition leader Corazon Aquino as president.

Honasan, however, would later turn against Mrs. Aquino, leading several bloody coup attempts. -With James Mananghaya, AFP