"There is no doubt on the loyalty of the entire Armed Forces. There is no need for loyalty checks since we are certain and confident that the loyalty of the AFP to the administration is 100 percent," Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said yesterday.
Reyes gave assurances the military establishment remains loyal to the Arroyo administration even if a number of its ranking officers owe their promotions to Estrada, who was jailed on Wednesday for the capital offense of plunder.
Reyes, who was named defense secretary after his retirement last month, made the assurance at Camp Aguinaldo as thousands of loyal supporters of Estrada gathered at the nearby EDSA Shrine and staged what they call "poor people power" to protest Estrada’s detention.
Reyes said the poor people power "pales in comparison" to the so-called people power 2 from Jan. 16 to 20 and stressed that during the January uprising, the military found reasonable ground to withdraw support for the Estrada administration.
The Estrada administration collapsed on Jan. 19 when government officials resigned from their posts en masse after the military withdrew support for the government and recognized Mrs. Arroyo as president.
Estrada was subsequently charged before the Sandiganbayan which ordered his arrest on Wednesday on charges of plunder. The former president was thrown in jail after he was fetched from his home where hundreds of Estrada loyalists gathered to prevent authorities from serving the arrest warrant.
Police dispersed the crowds around Estrada’s home and brought him to a detention center at Camp Crame but his loyalists regrouped at the EDSA Shrine.
But while Reyes and Armed Forces chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva pledged the military establishment’s support, they expressed concern that the crowd at the EDSA Shrine may be infiltrated by armed groups and cause the outbreak of violence.
"What we are looking for are armed groups mingling with the crowd which may resort to violence," said Villanueva, who was promoted to AFP chief by President Arroyo.
"I don’t see them (pro-Estrada crowd) of the same magnitude or support that came overwhelmingly against Estrada during EDSA II. It’s just like a political campaign with the presence of political leaders," Villanueva added.
Some 400 Army and Air Force troops arrived yesterday at Camp Aguinaldo to beef up security around the camp which is less than half a kilometer away from the EDSA Shrine.
The soldiers came from the Army headquarters at Fort Bonifacio in Makati City and the Special Operations Command at Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija purportedly to assist the police in containing the Estrada loyalist crowd.
Camp Aguinaldo commander Brig. Gen. Angel Atutubo said the soldiers consists of three companies from the Army and one from the Air Force and were placed on alert following Estrada’s detention.
Vice President Teofisto Guingona also warned the government will be forced to intervene once the Estrada loyalists become unruly and resort to violence.
At a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo, Guingona said the Cabinet Cluster E which he chairs has been assessing the security situation in the aftermath of Estrada’s detention.
"We are regularly meeting and assessing the situation and (ready to make) necessary responses. If violence, damage to properties and provocative acts do happen, then the government has the right to step in," Guingona said.