AFP widens anti-coup watch

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has widened its surveillance of supposed coup plotters to include senior and middle-level military officers, along with some prominent civilians.

AFP public information office chief Col. Tristan Kison said the military top brass has taken into account the possibility that senior officers and prominent civilians could be involved in the plot to overthrow the government and oust President Arroyo.

"When you investigate, you consider everything. When you say monitor, you have to take into account all the possibilities... from all ranks of recruiters," Kison said.

He explained the surveillance was part of ongoing efforts by the intelligence community to neutralize the plot.

Kison did not discount the possibility that the latest power grab was being supported by ranking military officials.

AFP chief Gen. Generoso Senga earlier confirmed efforts of a shadowy group that was trying to recruit junior military officers for a fresh coup attempt against the President.

Senga said the AFP began investigating the reports of an aggressive recruitment of young officers last week.

Kison revealed the AFP was gathering evidence against the plotters coming from the military as well as those civilians supporting them.

"It’s still premature to tell who these recruiters are… That is an operational matter," Kison stressed.

Kison though maintained that once the military intelligence community obtains solid evidence against the plotters, the AFP will initiate proceedings to prosecute them.

The AFP spokesman also assured the public that the Armed Forces remains united and strong amid talks of another coup attempt following lat week’s controversial jailbreak staged by four Oakwood mutineers. "All our troops are accounted for," Kison said.

Opposition Sen. Alfredo Lim, meanwhile, proposed to grant amnesty to all junior officers and servicemen who joined the Oakwood mutiny in July 2003.

Lim made the proposal to grant amnesty in a bid to stem the problem of escaping mutineers.

Lim said the mutineers would never end their quest to escape and sustain their fight against the Arroyo government.

"(They) continue to suffer in detention just because they fought for their principles, even if the gripes they aired then have now been proven true by the Feliciano Commission," Lim said, referring to the fact-finding body created to investigate the root cause of the Oakwood mutiny.

Lim said giving amnesty to the mutinous junior officers and soldiers would lead to reconciliation and unity.

"If ordinary criminals resent being jailed for a crime committed, more so for anyone who gets locked up merely for fighting for his principles," the former Manila police chief said.

Lim added the government should also be blamed since it reneged on its commitments to the mutineers.

Lim noted that the Magdalo mutineers had been allowed to post bail by the court but have remained under detention while facing court-martial proceedings.

He said the government should have granted amnesty to the mutinous Oakwood officers in the same way that it pardoned those who participated in more violent coup plots in the past.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, for his part, said the government is sincere in its reconciliation effort.

Gonzalez pointed out yesterday the standing order from President Arroyo to consider the indefinite suspension of the proceedings against former opposition senator Gregorio Honasan who was also among those implicated in the 2003 Oakwood uprising.

Honasan, a former Army colonel, led several coup attempts against former President Corazon Aquino in the late 1980s.

Gonzalez also denied reports that he was referring to Honasan in revealing the other day that the government had already identified a civilian who may have helped the renegade Army officers escape last week.

Meanwhile, the Army’s elite First Scout Ranger Regiment (FSRR) expressed support for the chain of command and the Constitution.

According to FSRR chief of staff Col. Nestor Flordelisa, all of the Army’s 2,196 elite fighting force remain loyal to their constitutional mandate, amid reports of a brewing coup among some of their comrades in arms.

"Our instructions here are quite simple," Flordelisa said. "We follow the chain of command. If there are people who would try to convince our troops to join such a plot, they would just say they would inform their camp commander," he said.

Flordelisa said the troops have the highest respect for their commander, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, because he has "the highest moral ascendancy to lead the Scout Ranger Regiment and we would follow his orders."

Lim was among the group with Honasan in launching the coup attempt against Mrs. Aquino in the late 1980s.

Flordelisa said the Scout Rangers seemed unaffected by the recent developments of the supposed coup being hatched by their comrades in uniform.

He said rumors of an impending coup have not died down because they are being spread by some "dissatisfied people."

The Army Scout Rangers are one of the elite fighting units of the AFP, often being targeted for recruitment by military adventurists since they are highly trained.

Flordelisa pointed out the coup rumors are not the general sentiment of a larger group of dissatisfied people, thus making the reports a product of mere speculation.

"Rumors will always remain rumors. Kung meron man na totoong ganyan wala ng rumors. Hindi na iyan dadaan sa paggiging tsismis, (If indeed there is an impending power grab, no rumors will need to be floated)," he said. — With Christina Mendez, Jose Rodel Clapano, James Mananghaya