Navy Lt. (SG) Antonio Trillanes IV reiterated his claim that Sen. Gregorio Honasan had no part in the July 27 mutiny, but came close to admitting yesterday that Honasan could be the man in a photograph of alleged coup plotters.
"It looks like Honasan," Trillanes said after conferring with his lawyers on the second day of the hearings of the fact-finding commission headed by retired justice Florentino Feliciano at the tightly guarded Armed Forces Commissioned Officers’ Club at Camp Aguinaldo.
Trillanes became hesitant in identifying Honasan after he was shown two photographs portraying a group of men supposedly meeting to plan the latest power grab against President Arroyo.
The two photographs showed a group of men standing in front of a blood-stained Philippine flag alongside a red flag with a sun in the middle. The photo was apparently taken surreptitiously and the likeness of Honasan had his back to the camera.
Mario Ongkiko, lead special counsel for the commission, asked Trillanes to identify one of the men in the photos. The mutineer answered that it looked like Honasan.
Honasan denied he was the one in the photographs and accused the government of fabricating evidence.
"Sigurado ako na hindi ako iyon (I’m certain that was not me)," Honasan said in an interview with ABS-CBN’s "TV Patrol" last night.
Malacañang directly implicated Honasan in the supposed "blood compact" on June 13 with the Magdalo mutineers led by Trillanes.
Presidential Security Group commander Col. Delfin Bangit released to media two computer-reproduced and enhanced copies of a photo taken of the incident where Honasan was seen among the participants of that meeting held in a still undisclosed place.
Honasan pointed out that the photographs presented by Bangit "were blurred."
"I don’t know where they got that, how they fabricated that but it’s noticeable that the picture is not clear," he said.
Honasan, who made himself "inaccessible" after accusations that he had a hand in the failed coup attempt, said he will rebut all allegations against him in the proper forum or in court.
He denied attending any secret meeting with the mutinous soldiers or presiding a blood compact with them.
In the same interview, Honasan said he has "not plotted to overthrow the present administration through harsh means."
On allegations that he had the scar of the blood compact, Honasan said the scars were from his experience as a former soldier.
None of the scars in his body come from any "bladed weapon or instrument," he said.
"Handang-handa ako ipakita ang kahit anung parte ng aking katawan (I am prepared to show any part of my body to prove there is no blood compact scar)" he declared.
Honasan maintained he will resurface only after ascertaining that his chances of fighting the allegations against him will be properly addressed.
"Ako ay haharap kapag patas na ang labanan (I will face the charges only if there is a level playing field) and due process and rule of law are not set aside," Honasan said.
Trillanes, for his part, denied that the photograph was taken during one of his group’s meetings and maintained they never met Honasan at any time before the mutiny.
He also denied that the group engaged in a blood compact session with Honasan during one of the clandestine meetings.
He said the last time he met Honasan was during the launching of the National Recovery Program at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo sometime last June.
In yesterday’s hearing, there was a brief debate over whether Trillanes should give in to the query of Ongkiko when asked about the photographs.
Trillanes, who acted as spokesman for the Magdalo group during the mutiny, hedged several times during questioning and repeatedly asked the advice of Homobono Adaza, one of their counsels.
One of the junior officers implicated in the mutiny, Army Capt. Milo Maestrecampo, also denied meeting with Honasan.
Maestrecampo claimed that the only time the Magdalo group met was on July 24 or 25 to film the video of their group standing behind the two flags to air their grievances with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the government.
Copies of the video were subsequently turned over by the group to two television stations and aired early morning of July 27.
Trillanes also denied government allegations of a plot to unseat President Arroyo.
Trillanes said he and his Magdalo colleagues took over the upscale Oakwood Premier Ayala Center residential building in Makati that day to inform the public of widespread corruption in the military and avoid arrest.
Trillanes told the commission that he met Mrs. Arroyo at Malacañang on July 13 to inform her of military corruption and an intelligence report of a brewing coup.
Instead of paying attention, an angry Mrs. Arroyo allegedly suspected he was part of a planned uprising and ordered him detained, he said.
"I tried, I attempted to tell her about how bad things are in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, but she never gave me a chance... I was expecting her to at least order an investigation," Trillanes said.
"I went on to discuss an intelligence report that came to us regarding a palace coup," Trillanes said, but added that Mrs. Arroyo berated him and ordered that he be detained and paraded before media.
"I-detain niyo ito, iharap niyo sa media para mag-tanda (Have him detained and face the media to learn a lesson)," Trillanes quoted Mrs. Arroyo as allegedly saying.
He claimed being arbitrarily detained at the Naval Intelligence and Security Force at Fort Bonifacio in Makati City for more than three days.
"The major reason why we went to Oakwood was we were hunted down by this government," he said.
Navy chief Vice Adm. Ernesto de Leon, later told reporters Trillanes had not been detained in mid-July.
"That is a complete lie," he said. "I can’t accept somebody lying in a commission where everything said there should be the truth."
Trillanes claimed the grievance mechanisms in the AFP were so flawed that he was prompted to directly address the problems to the President but ended up being the accused.
It was the first time the 32-year-old Trillanes, who wore his Navy uniform and appeared defiant, appeared in public after being detained and charged with more than 300 junior officers and servicemen following the uprising. His testimony was carried live on nationwide TV.
At one point, a commission member reminded him to tone down his language after describing Mrs. Arroyo as arrogant.
Maestrecampo, for his part, testified how he witnessed poorly equipped soldiers die in battle because helicopters and other transport were scant while military officials drove luxury cars at military headquarters in the capital.
He disclosed that his commander once ordered him to hurl grenades at mosques in Davao City following the deadly bomb attack in a crowded pier in the city last April primarily blamed on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
"I could not submit to the order and I told my immediate superior that, `Sir, this is not the enemy, we know they did not hit (the) wharf’."
He said the primary factor was the sale of arms and ammunitions by the members of the AFP to the MILF and other groups, which is the principal reason why many soldiers die in the field.
Trillanes reiterated that these bullets from the military arsenal are being used against the soldiers and nothing is being done to stop the practice.
"If we blind ourselves to this problem how can we solve this? Evidence won’t solve the problem, what we want is for this practice to stop," Trillanes said.
The second point was the supposed atrocities and terrorist activities being perpetrated by the government in a supposed plan called "Oplan Greenbase."
The plan, already classified as spurious by the government, was described by Trillanes as a "propaganda material that predicted future events."
Trillanes said that he also treated the document with a certain degree of caution initially but when the events detailed in the document started to be manifest, this convinced him and his companions that it was legitimate.
Oplan Greenbase supposedly contained details of the Buliok complex operation, the main stronghold of the MILF which fell to the government last February, the bombing of the Davao International Airport last March, the Sasa Wharf bombing in April and the recent Napocor towers bombings that were all attributed to the MILF.
The third point was the alleged coup plan against the government that would lead to the declaration of martial law.
The government, represented by National Security Adviser Roilo Golez, told the commission that the plan of the renegade soldiers was to reinstall disgraced President Joseph Estrada to power for three days. Honasan would have succeeded Estrada, he said.
Although a coup would have benefited Estrada - jailed while on trial for alleged corruption - there was no evidence directly linking him to the mutiny, Golez said.
Estrada has denied any involvement in the rebellion that collapsed after 22 hours but officials have claimed that his mistress, Laarni Enriquez, and former deputy executive secretary Ramon Cardenas provided the venues for staging points by the mutineers.
Estrada’s wife, opposition Sen. Luisa Ejercito, and two of his sons were also implicated in the uprising but have not been charged. The three denied their involvement. -With reports from Ann Corvera, Marichu Villanueva, Paolo Romero, Jaime Laude, Delon Porcalla, AFP