AFP vows to unmask shadowy soldiers’ group

The military will investigate if a new shadowy group of soldiers which has called for President Arroyo’s resignation and threatened to launch a coup is for real, the Armed Forces vice chief said yesterday.

However, Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia doubts that the group, Patriotic Soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, exists.

"Without saying that we give credence to the existence of such an organization, we are going to unmask and the uncover the truth behind this organization," Garcia told reporters.

"Is it small? Is it big? These are the things that we have to find out. But offhand, from what information we already know, this is not going to be a big organization because we believe we have addressed many of the issues. And we believe our officers know better after the sad experience of July 27," he said.

Garcia was referring to the failed mutiny of over 300 officers and enlisted men who occupied a ritzy condominium in the heart of Makati City’s business district over alleged corruption in the military.

The mutineers called themselves the Magdalo group, a name similar to one used by a band of Filipino revolutionaries who fought Spanish colonial rule in the 19th century.

They accused the military leadership of selling weapons to rebel groups and masterminding bombings in Mindanao in a bid to declare the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as a terrorist group and eventually get more US funding for President Arroyo’s anti-terror campaign.

They also alleged that top military officials were planning bombings in Manila as pretext for martial law to extend Mrs. Arroyo’s stay in power.

Mrs. Arroyo threatened to launch an assault but the mutineers surrendered peacefully after a 19-hour standoff and marathon negotiations.

Since then the country has been jittery with rumors of a new coup attempt.

The feeling of nervousness peaked when a former top aviation official and his aide, armed with guns and explosives, took over the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s control tower early this month.

Panfilo Villaruel, former Air Transportation Office chief, said he stormed the facility to complain about government graft.

Villaruel and former navy officer Ricardo Catchillar were killed by a police SWAT unit after a three-hour standoff.

In a statement circulated in Camp Aguinaldo yesterday and signed by a certain 1Lt. Andres Maypag-asa, the shadowy soldiers group said they would "take the matter directly in solving the country’s problems" if the government did not heed its call for change.

"The betrayal made by the present administration to our brothers-in-arms will never be forgotten. More than three months have elapsed since the Oakwood protest, but still reforms were not made, and the terms of agreement still blatantly violated."

In a ceremony in San Miguel, Bulacan, yesterday marking the 53rd anniversary of the First Scout Ranger Regiment, the Army’s elite strike force, Mrs. Arroyo pledged to modernize the Armed Forces and carry out reforms.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero dismissed the manifesto as "plain and simple propaganda" by anti-government forces trying to woo the military to join them.

The Philippine military is considered as among the weakest and most corrupt in the region.

Earlier, Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced that a 25-member group has been created to carry out reforms in the military, as recommended by Philippine and US experts to respond to security threats in the country.

The "joint defense assessment" (JDA) group was formed following a study completed recently by experts and endorsed by both Mrs. Arroyo and US President George W. Bush, Ermita said.

The group was an outcome of Mrs. Arroyo’s state visit to the United States in May, during which Bush reviewed Philippine security needs and pledged US assistance to help modernize the Philippine military. — With James Mananghaya