Bid to control Clark airport tower bared

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — Air Force and intelligence sources revealed yesterday an alleged attempt to take over the control tower of the Clark airport last Sunday while rumors of a "power grab" against President Arroyo by forces sympathetic to deposed President Joseph Estrada, circulated.

"It’s very likely that it was part of (the power grab). We are continuing our investigation into it," said a senior intelligence officer.

Col. Horacio Lapinid, Air Force spokesman, said that based on initial investigation, the takeover attempt was maneuvered by Maj. Gen. Nilo Jatico, chief of the Air Logistics and Support Command based in Clark.
The senior intelligence officer said five Air Force personnel, led by a lieutenant, occupied the control tower of the Clark airport from 12:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. last Sunday.

This occurred as reports were circulating that armed groups from the police and the military would attack Malacañang between midnight and 4 a.m. that day.

Personnel of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) who were manning the control tower were not harmed but got the impression that they were going to be driven out.

The intelligence officer said the five Air Force men — identified as 2Lt. Rene Sindac, Sgt. Duenas and Airmen Second Class Olarte, Sibayan and Tipan — were apparently waiting for instructions before operating the controls.

The tower at the Clark airport controls all civilian and military air traffic within its area of responsibility.

The five Air Force personnel, Lapinid said, "acted on the command of the (Air Logistics) commander."

"The order was for them to secure the tower," he said without elaborating. The five soldiers are restricted to their quarters in Clark.

Lapinid said Jatico is being questioned about the incident. He added that the personnel involved could be charged with usurpation of authority.

Sources from the Air Logistics and Support Command said that the First Tactical Operations Wing, the Air Force’s host command in Clark, was never informed about the questionable movement of Jatico’s five subordinates.

This was confirmed by Maj. Allan Ballesteros, spokesman of the First Tactical Operations Wing. "My command is supposed to be the contact command of the Air Force in Clark. But (we) are not aware of what happened at the tower. There was no order whatsoever for the Air Force to take control of the tower," he said.

Jatico, one of the sources said, "established his own operations headquarters" in his residence at the Air Force area while his five men were at the control tower.

"Col. Jimmy Rodrigo, Jatico’s deputy, called the shots at the headquarters," the source added.

The sources claimed that Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin and Presidential Adviser for North Luzon Rene Diaz met Jatico at the latter’s residence Sunday afternoon.

Ballesteros said Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Benjamin Defensor had nothing to do with the airport tower incident.

Sources from the Logistics Command speculated that Jatico probably had expected that Defensor would defect to the Estrada camp. Defensor is the brother of opposition Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

"But (Jatico) gave up when he realized that Defensor was in Malacañang on the side of President Arroyo," one of the sources said.
ATO chief Adelberto Yap has asked Defensor to explain the takeover.

"Initially (Defensor) told me that he knows nothing about it," said Yap, a former Air Force vice commander.

The ATO, which has jurisdiction over the Clark control tower, suspended yesterday its agreement with the Air Force on access to the facility.

Defensor and Jatico could not be reached for comment.

Sources said it was Jatico who worked for the entry of Estrada’s son Jude into the Air Force with the rank of captain.

Jatico was reportedly promoted to two-star general with the support of former First Lady Loi Ejercito.

Estrada, sources at Camp Aguinaldo said, stood as one of the principal sponsors to the wedding of one of Jatico’s children last year.