AFP: Coup is biggest April Fool's Day joke

The military said yesterday that rumors of a weekend coup against Mr. Estrada were the "biggest" April Fool's Day joke, but warned rumor mongers could be charged.

"That's the biggest joke I've ever heard today. Remember, it's April Fool's (Day)," Armed Forces spokesman Col. Rafael Romero told reporters.

Romero, however, warned that Armed Forces personnel spreading rumors about a coup could be charged before a military court.

"We have rules and regulations governing military personnel," he said.

Although it brushed off the coup rumors, the AFP has been placed on red alert since last week and security at military camps and other strategic targets strengthened.

Meanwhile, high ranking military intelligence officials tagged a group of social democrats as behind the coup rumors.

One of these officials, who requested anonymity, said this group has already instigated a certain "Captain Batingaw" to reveal in a television interview a planned military uprising on or before September this year.

The source said they have already identified four of these rumor-mongers. Among them are two newspaper columnists, a former communist party leader and a relative of a politician from Southern Tagalog.

"They are spreading the rumors to foment political unrest," he said.

He added that leftists were already taking advantage of these rumors to destabilize the government.

The intelligence official said the group crafted Batingaw's statement, which will be read when the supposed soldier is interviewed on national television.

In that statement, Batingaw would reveal that he is one of the military officers who would participate in the coup and that he would ask his colleagues to be ready for an uprising.

Batingaw would also say that the power outage that hit Luzon last December was actually a "test mission" for the coming putsch.

"All of his statements were concocted by this group of social democrats," the source said.

At Malacañang, National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre said he met recently with three leaders of the Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa (RAM) to verify coup rumors.

He said former Commodore Domingo Calajate, Navy Capt. Proceso Maligalig and Army Col. Rafael Galvez denied having a hand in a plot against Mr. Estrada.

"They told me they have nothing to do with such coup rumors," he said.

Aguirre said the people behind the rumors are the same groups involved in a disinformation campaign against the President earlier this year.

Reports of an impending putsch hogged the headlines last month, when President Estrada's popularity rating plunged apparently due to political and economic uncertainties.

The AFP repeatedly stated in its press releases that it would know when a coup was set to be launched by military adventurists.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado also revealed that the AFP has a counter-intelligence unit operating within the military organization.

"We have a counter-intelligence group inside the AFP. We are capable of doing that," he said.

Two weeks after issuing the statement, coup rumors intensified, especially after a supposed "Oplan Delta" was revealed in the newspapers.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, a former defense minister who led an uprising against the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, said these rumors were being spread by "mad dogs" and "inexperienced soldiers."

"Those crazy people who are spreading the rumor have not experienced how hard it is to launch a coup. That's why they are crazy, like mad dogs," he said.

For a putsch to prosper, Enrile said its leaders must prepare for their arms and logistics, their command system and even countersigns.

"It will take a lot of time and deep thought to plan things like that," he said.

On reports that his former aides were involved in Oplan Delta, Enrile said "they are already out of the service and out of contact with their men."

They are Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya, Col. Billy Bibit and Col. Alexander Noble.

"Berroya is busy playing golf, while Bibit is engaged in his business. I don't know what Noble is doing these days," he said. --