Honasan joins presidential race

Sen. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, a former Army colonel who launched several coup attempts during the Aquino administration, yesterday launched his campaign for the 2004 presidential election.

"At this point I would submit myself to the selection process of what I pray and hope to be the united opposition," he said at a news conference where he announced his candidacy.

"I submit myself to be one of the possible leaders and advocates of the national recovery program," he said.

If the group endorses some other candidate, "there is a possibility that I may run as an independent," Honasan said, adding that he already has the machinery in place for a nationwide campaign.

This will put Honasan on a collision course with his "mistah" at the Philippine Military Academy of Class ’71, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who is also seeking the nomination of the united opposition.

Honasan announced his candidacy at the launching of the Honasan 2004 for President Movement (H4).

"I am accepting the challenge and I will be running for president next year," he said, adding that he is open to running as either president or vice president. "I believe there should be a strong, vibrant and united opposition in next year’s elections."

Honasan said he decided to run for president next year to enable him to push his proposed national recovery program to create "a peaceful, prosperous nation" and unite the Filipinos.

He added that it is high time for Filipinos to elect a president who would eradicate the existing "politics of patronage, corruption and compromise and the economics of exploitation."

"I will only give way to a united opposition candidate. But if it will be a free-for-all, I will run for president," Honasan said.

He said that he is willing to run as vice president if actor Fernando Poe Jr. will be chosen by the united opposition as its standard-bearer.

"I have served well as a military officer (and) senator. I think I can offer much more with a clear program of governance. There are many names in the administration and opposition parties… interested in the presidency for next year’s elections, but none of them have presented a clear platform of government," Honasan said.

He is challenging other presidential candidates "to present their platform to the people, so that the people would know where they would be going."

Honasan said people should base their choice for president "not on personality, but on the candidate’s programs of governance."

He said that negotiations between him and Poe remain open.

"In fact, we had conveyed copies of my proposed national recovery program. My tie-up with Manong Ronnie, who is a close friend, will be based on his clear understanding and adoption of the national recovery program I want to implement. Manong Ronnie will be announcing his decision, whether to run or not, next month," Honasan said.

Asked what he can offer the country, he said: "Consistency, the willingness to fight and die for what I believe in, which I have proven not only once but over and over again."

He said he was running as president for precisely the same reasons he led the coup attempts against former President Corazon Aquino, namely "electoral reforms, issue-oriented politics with a moral basis."

Fred Vargas, who convened the H4 movement, said they chose Honasan because of his proposed national recovery program, which they believe can solve the problem of poverty in Mindanao.

Vargas said they will also launch a three-month campaign to gather one million signatures in support of Honasan’s candidacy.

He said that Honasan, who topped a survey of possible vice presidential candidates conducted by FYI Research and Consulting Group, inspired them to work for his presidential bid.

"If we really want an honest-to-goodness change in the nation’s political leadership and meaningful reforms in our society, electing Honasan as our president is the giant leap we have to take," said George Duldulao, H4 secretary general.

Honasan, who is thought to maintain a considerable following in the Armed Forces, entered politics in 1992 shortly after winning presidential pardon as part of a political settlement between the government and right-wing military coup-plotters.

He is widely credited with leading a military rising against the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos amid a disputed snap presidential election in February 1986.

The plot was uncovered but the Philippine populace and the influential Roman Catholic Church rallied behind the trapped military rebels, eventually forcing Marcos from power and sending him to exile in Hawaii, where he died three years later.

Marcos’ election rival, Corazon Aquino, became the president, but Honasan and his Reform the Armed Forces Movement military clique later turned against her.

Seven deadly coup attempts were launched against Aquino between 1986 and 1989. All were put down, the last with the help of the United States air force. Honasan was later captured and detained on a military ship in Manila Bay. — With AFP