US would have struck against coup plotters

A warning by the Americans, a request by the bishops, and a sellout to the communists. These factors, according to sources close to the plotters, combined to foil a coup d’état in Feb. against President Gloria Arroyo.

Seeking no attribution, three members of the Reform-AFP-Movement and Young Officers Union told The STAR the plot had been brewing since Nov. under the same putschists of the ’80s. They confirmed AFP disclosures that among the plotters were ex-colonels Gregorio Honasan, Rafael Galvez, Felix Turingan and Jake Malajacan. They gave new tidbits too: that an American agent had warned the plotters of US military reprisal against any coup, and that five anti-Arroyo Catholic bishops specifically had requested them to shun violence. These, the sources said, prompted some plotters to shift to an "EDSA-type ouster" by withdrawing military and police support from the Commander-in-Chief. It would have happened on Feb. 24, the 20th anniversary of People Power-1, also the day Arroyo declared a state of emergency with the discovery of the plot.

A string of US officials had flown into Manila since late 2005 to assess the political crisis spawned by the Hello Garci tape. US embassy men also interviewed Opposition leaders, including the plotters. An unnamed agent expressed Washington’s line that any Arroyo ouster must be constitutional. Or else, the sources said, US Marines in the joint RP-US Balikatan exercises in Western Mindanao and Central Luzon would strike at the Filipino coup stagers. "The US would have made a restatement that it is pro-democracy," one source explained.

The info jibed with "Minutes Re Final Talk Feb. 20, 2006," a document retrieved by soldiers from a flash drive of rearrested Magdalo mutineer Lt. Lawrence San Juan on Feb. 21 in Batangas. "Final Talk" supposedly was between Malajacan, Turingan, Galvez and San Juan on one side, and leaders of the Communist Party and New People’s Army on the other. In it, the coup plotters briefed their new insurgent allies on plans, including military-backed civilian marches to Malacañang and takeovers of vital installations, if not on Feb. 24, then on either Mar. 31 or May 1. The only hitches, according to "Final Talk", were reassignments of commanders among the plotters and the Balikatan exercises.

"Final Talk" also mentioned a "Silent Majority of Bishop Cruz" as the main force of civilian marchers. The STAR sources said five bishops who are critical of Arroyo got wind of the coup to coincide with protest rallies. "They were emphatic against any use of arms," one source said, "and that dampened the hotheads."

The AFP has analyzed "Final Talk" and an accompanying paper, "Mahahalagang Punto ng mga Kaisahan at Unawaan sa Pagitan ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas at Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan". It said the Feb. 24 plan was for around 200 soldiers and policemen, led by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim of the Army Scout Rangers, Col. Ariel Querubin of the Marines, and Chief Supt. Marcelino Franco Jr. of the PNP-Special Action Force, would have joined an Opposition rally at EDSA. There, five bishops would have met them as they declared a break from the chain of command. Lim, according to the AFP, was the alias "Nikkie" in "Final Talk" who would have led the military and police "ground forces", under alias "Bitoy" (Honasan) as overall commander.

Lim, Querubin and Franco, along with seven other Scout Ranger and two SAF officers, have been relieved and are being investigated. Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda was replaced.

Lim has denied plotting a coup or linking up with communists. The AFP brass on Feb. 24 also belied Malacañang lawyers’ announcement of a foiled coup, "only a reported plan to withdraw support from the President." One of The STAR sources said: "Technically, there really was no longer a coup plot on Feb. 24 because plans changed for an open march by soldiers with anti-Arroyo demonstrators."

The sources said some of the plotters only belatedly found out that their leaders had linked up since Nov. 2005 with their mortal enemies, the CPP-NPA. "They viewed this as betrayal, so they switched from coup to withdrawal of allegiance," one explained. Another pointed to the swift arrival of Leftist leaders at Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio on Feb. 26, when Querubin led a protest of Miranda’s sacking. "This confirmed the sneaking suspicion of other plotters: that their comrades had sold them to the enemy," the source said. "The Scout Rangers thus hesitated to reinforce the protesting Marines."

The AFP brass reported before Feb. 24 that 14 officers had turned down coup recruiters because of murmurs about the communist links. They said after the state of emergency was declared that more officers who were in on the plot turned themselves in because of disgust.

The sources could not say if US officials had known of the plotters’ talks with the communists. They had all joined coup attempts against then-president Cory Aquino in the ’80s, the most violent of which was in Dec. 1989. One of them recalled that in 1989, then-US Vice President George Bush Sr. had ordered fly-by maneuvers by the US Air Force in Clark Field over the marching coup forces. "The drone of Phantom jets scared the hell out of us," one of the sources chuckled in recollection. "We had to disband from Camp Aguinaldo and then lay siege to the Makati business district. Two low jet flights were used then, 5,000 US Marines would have been used this time." And so another coup was disbanded.

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