MANILA, Philippines - Lawyer Ely Pamatong, the self proclaimed commander of the so-called United States Allied Freedom Fighters of the East (USAFFE), vowed yesterday to retake islands occupied by China in the disputed Spratlys in the West Philippine Sea.
“The last days of my life will be devoted to retaking occupied Philippine territories,” Pamatong told The STAR in a telephone interview from his base in Arayat, Pampanga.
Pamatong was referring not only to the Chinese held areas in the Spratlys but also the Malaysian occupied Sabah.
Pamatong said he tried to coordinate with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to allow his supposed paramilitary group to retake the islands but they were prevented from going into the disputed territories.
He claimed that his group is composed of former military men that are capable of retaking the Chinese occupied areas in the Spratlys.
Pamatong, however, clarified that although the three arrested suspects in the aborted bombing of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 are USAFFE members, the leadership of the group has nothing to do with the alleged plot to conduct bombings in Metro Manila.
“They were framed up,” he said without elaborating.
Lawyer Oliver Lozano is counsel for detained bombing suspects Grandeur Geurrero, Emmanuel San Pedro and Sonny Yohanon.
Lozano said that the aborted NAIA bombing was part of a plot creating a scenario to justify the declaration of martial law.
A source claimed a Malacañang official met with Pamatong to discuss the so-called “destabilize me” move in Metro Manila.
Pamatong, however, denied meeting with Aquino or any of his Cabinet members, saying that the last time he met the President was when he was still a senator while they were at National Bookstore in Quezon City.
“President Noynoy is a like a son to me, I was with his late father Ninoy in the US when the Light a Fire Movement (an anti-Marcos group) was launched,” he said.
National Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Pamatong last Wednesday not for the failed attempt of his USAFFE unit to throw incendiary devices at NAIA-3 but for a pending case of inciting to sedition.
The NBI team accosted Pamatong after he arrived at NAIA Terminal 2 on board a Philippine Airlines flight from Cagayan de Oro City.
Pamatong was arrested on a warrant issued by Judge Joel Socrates Lopeña of the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court years ago.
He was released lat Friday after he posted P12,000 bail.
Lozano said Guerrero had submitted his counter affidavit to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and denied involvement in the illegal possession of explosives case filed by the NBI.
Guerrero claimed that he sent the two other suspects – security guards San Pedro and Yohanon – to the NAIA to watch the service vehicle of his company that was allegedly borrowed by certain Norberto Paraga.
“All of us did not know that the subject vehicle was loaded with firecrackers. It was Paraga who drove the subject vehicle to the NAIA parking lot,” he said.
He claimed that the vehicle passed airport security.
Guerrero said he was in Magallanes in Makati when Paraga sent him a text message instructing him to get the vehicle and he replied that he would send San Pedro and Yohanon.
NBI agents later arrested San Pedro and Yohanon but Paraga escaped.
Guerrero said he was arrested in Magallanes while the vehicle was still parked at NAIA.
“We did not commit illegal possession of explosives as there is no forensic examination that the seized items are explosives and that the firecrackers would explode,” he said.