Senga: No more coup threat

The coup threat is over and a "solid" Armed Forces of the Philippines is on an irreversible path to reforms, AFP chief Gen. Generoso Senga said yesterday.

"Our officers and men are tired of coup attempts and destabilization threats," Senga told The STAR on the eve of his retirement from the service. "The military is very solid."

He expressed confidence that the coup threat is over even in the Philippine Marines and the Army’s elite Scout Ranger Regiment, whose former commander, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, is under investigation for involvement in a coup last February.

Senga belied reports of a rift with his successor, Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon.

"That’s the farthest from the truth. Esperon supported me all the way," Senga said. "We have a very good incoming chief of staff."

Senga said Esperon also enjoyed the support of all the major service commanders.

Esperon, in a talk with The STAR the other day, also said the coup threat was over. He denied accusations that he was involved in vote-rigging in Mindanao in the May 2004 presidential race, adding, "my conscience is clear."

A military fact-finding team headed by Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga, now the flag-officer-in-command of the Philippine Navy, had cleared Esperon of the accusations.

President Arroyo had ordered Senga to disclose the findings of the Mayuga board but did not authorize him to release the complete report. Senga denied he would release the full report today.

Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz had earlier explained to The STAR that the full report was not being released to protect certain individuals who provided vital information in the investigation of the case.

Legacy

Senga will leave a legacy in the AFP as the first military chief to approve mass court-martial proceedings against a sizable group of military men involved in an ouster of their commander in chief.

A total of 165 officers and soldiers could face criminal charges for alleged involvement in the coup plot, Senga stressed.

Although he did not identify the soldiers, Senga said 15 Marines, 25 Army officers and as many as 125 servicemen will be investigated after they were named by a panel investigating the foiled Feb. 24 plot.

The 165 men were named in a report from the panel submitted to Cruz last Wednesday. They could face charges and court martial for the plot that prompted President Arroyo to declare a weeklong state of emergency.

AFP Inspector General Rear Adm. Rufino Lopez said the involved officers and servicemen have all been relieved of their posts in elite military units and put under the custody of their service commanders while they undergo a pre-trial investigation leading to a court-martial.

Lopez did not release any names during a news conference yesterday, but did not dispute suggestions that those to be prosecuted include Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Lim and Marine Col. Arnel Querubin.

The officers and servicemen might face a court martial for mutiny, failure to report or suppress mutiny, sedition, disrespect toward the President and superior officers, and other violations of the Articles of War, Lopez told a news conference.

Miranda was sacked as commandant of the Marines, Querubin lost his command of a Marine brigade, and Lim was stripped of his post as commander of the Scout Ranger Regiment after being implicated in an alleged left-right plot against Mrs. Arroyo on Feb. 24.

"Officers and enlisted personnel found guilty of participation in any destabilization activities against the government should be removed from the military service," Lopez said.

Government investigators said Lim taped a television broadcast to announce his "withdrawal of support" for Mrs. Arroyo as their commander-in-chief.

Lim will supposedly lead his men on a street march to join a planned opposition demonstration calling for the President’s resignation.

Miranda was sacked from his post in the aftermath of the Feb. 24 plot, supposedly for failing to prevent Marine units from taking part in the plotting.

Querubin protested that sacking by mounting a tense standoff at the Marine headquarters at Fort Bonifacio two days later, but he and his men eventually stood down without bloodshed.

The plot, which supposedly involved elements of the armed communist insurgency, prompted Mrs. Arroyo to declare a week-long state of emergency. She survived an impeachment complaint in Congress last year for alleged vote-rigging.

No sway

The government has widened its probe of the coup attempt with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) summoning prominent personalities in an effort to identify the financiers of the coup and its supporters.

Senga himself was not summoned to shed light over the coup plot.

The AFP chief became the central figure of the coup attempt when he announced the arrest of Lim and other officers in the foiled power grab.

Lopez said a total of 39 resource persons, coupled with the findings made by the Army and Marines over the incident, had been enough to support their findings and recommendations to initiate the court- martial proceedings against the military rebels.

Previous reports claimed Senga was almost swayed into joining Lim and Querubin.

Senga was approached by Lim and Querubin, and later by Miranda, convincing the AFP chief to provide the necessary support for their planned withdrawal.

Senga then ordered Lim and Querubin to stand down and return to their barracks with their men.

The two officers, however, stood their ground and even offered Senga to be their leader in a bid to win him over their side.

Senga, however, stood firm when he saw the reluctance on the faces of senior officers, which included Esperon and Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Jose Reyes, whom he consulted concerning the prevailing security situation.

Lopez revealed the findings indicate the mutineers allegedly planned to seize the President and top military and police officials in a coup plot that fizzled out because of a lack of time and supporters.

The rebel officers tried to repeat the 1986 "people power"

revolt that ousted late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and the 2001 mass protests that forced President Joseph Estrada to step down, paving the way for then Vice President Arroyo, to take over, Lopez said.

"If you will look back to history, the participation of the military in those scenarios was crucial," he said. "February 24 should have been the culmination of all the plans."

Lopez declared the threat is over since all of the coup plotters have been identified with a substantial number of mutineers accounted for.

"I think we have stemmed the possibility of this unrest. Forty officers as compared to 35,000 officers of the AFP is not a big number," Lopez said. - With James Mananghaya, Evelyn Macairan, AFP, AP