The Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
The Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a formal state of emergency on Friday 25th as a precaution against what was believed an upcoming coup d’etat. The Philippine President went on national television explaining the circumstances and underlining the gravity of the plot allegedly unravelled by the armed forces, saying;
“over these past months, elements in the political opposition have conspired with authoritarians of the extreme Left represented by the NDF-CPP-NPA and the extreme Right represented by military adventurists – the historical enemies of the democratic Philippine State – who are now in tactical alliance and engaged in a concerted and systematic conspiracy, over a broad front, to bring down the duly constituted government elected in May 2004.”
“These conspirators have repeatedly tried to bring down the President,” she continued.
Arroyo added that these rebellious elements had been “recklessly magnified by certain segments of the national media.” The declaration of a state emergency came after opposition forces gathered at the rallying point for two earlier revolts by late Friday morning, calling for Arroyo, who survived allegations of vote-rigging and corruption last year, to step down.
Philippine Armed Forces
Chief of Staff, General
Generoso S. Senga
Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Generoso S. Senga elaborated in more detail on his press conference, by saying that military intelligence had uncovered a plot that some misguided elements in the military were planning to join protest rallies by the political opposition in Metro Manila where they would declare their withdrawal of support from the Arroyo government.
Parallel to the declared state of emergency, an alleged key figure in the plot, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim as commander of the elite First Scout Ranger Regiment of the Philippine Army, who also was a prominent figure during the 1987 and 1989 failed coup attempts, was relieved of his command and placed under the custody of Gen. Senga in Camp Aguinaldo in suburban Quezon City.
Military officials also linked Gregorio Honasan, a former army colonel and opposition senator, hailed as a hero in the uprising against Marcos, to the alleged plot to unseat Arroyo and accused Honasan of recruiting junior officers to take part in “Oplan Hackle”, a military scheme which was uncovered this month by troops loyal to the president, something Honasan himself categorically denied.“Oplan Hackle” was meant to create a military government and involved the mass escape of officers facing trial for leading a failed mutiny in July 2003, an army official had said on Wednesday, adding the army had questioned at least 14 lieutenants and sergeants.
In an omen of things to come the Presidential Palace was rocked by a loud explosion last Monday, as a group of self-proclaimed military rebels vowed an “explosive protest” against President Arroyo. The cause of the palace blast was not immediately known, but Arroyo’s chief of staff Michael Defensor blamed unidentified anti-government elements waging “scare tactics” against the state. At the same time a group describing themselves as “reformist” military officers claimed in a statement to news agencies that it “started a series of explosive protest activities that will continue and even escalate until Gloria Arroyo leaves the presidency”.
Besides being the target of coup attempts Arrayo has alienated most of the opposition and people at large by supposed corruption and fraud within both the government and the civil service. The Philippine government is also in the process of reforming the economy from a crony driven capitalism bedridden with heavy debt, introduced during the reign of the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos ousted in 1986, to a more streamlined modern market economy based less upon patronage and more upon competition. This process has led to unpopular policies and thus further aggravated the public opinion. Another source of discontent has been the opposition’s ongoing claims of election fraud perpetrated by Arrayo after she won the Presidential election in 2004. CNN reports;
During the vote count in 2004, Arroyo was tape-recorded talking to a senior election official, which opposition leaders say is evidence she manipulated the outcome.
The president has denied any wrongdoing, and the Philippines’ Congress threw out impeachment charges against her in September after her allies in the House of Representatives used a technicality to block the complaints. But calls for her to quit have continued.
Corazon Aquino
A couple of hours after Arroyo declared the state of emergency, former President Corazon Aquino led a peaceful march of about 5,000 people and repeated calls for Arroyo to step down;
“We want to remember what we did 20 years ago, and we want to make sure that we will never have to lose that democracy again,” Aquino said, noting that anti-riot squads were preventing people from assembling for peaceful rallies.
“It’s a little bit difficult to understand now why there is an emergency act that is needed.”
Aquino and about 5,000 people were later allowed to march peacefully to a memorial to her late husband.
