|
By Jefferson Antiporda, Reporter
The Armed Forces of the
Philippine revealed on Monday new efforts of some retired military
personnel to recruit active soldiers for destabilization moves
against the government of President Gloria Arroyo.
But the military’s chief, Brig.
Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., assured that the recruitment efforts
have failed and that officers who had been approached reported the
overture to higher officials.
“There are attempts by some
retired personnel to recruit active personnel but these have not
been successful,” Esperon said. He did not disclose the identities
of the retired officials.
Esperon belittled the new
recruitment efforts, saying they can handle them and that the
military remains solid.
He also disclosed that there are
no new faces behind the new recruitment attempts. The Armed Forces
chief said the recruiters were raising the same issues against the
Arroyo government, such as coming out with the “truth” behind
alleged wrongdoing of the administration. He added that this demand
was also raised during a standoff between troops and rebel soldiers
from the Magdaló group of junior military officers at the Manila
Peninsula hotel in Makati City in November 2007.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th and
former Scout Ranger commander Brig. Gen Danilo Lim had led a siege
of the hotel. Trillanes supposedly is a core leader of the Magdaló
group.
“We do not expect new people or
new faces in future destabilization moves,” Esperon said.
When asked on what the
military’s action against the recruiters would be, he said they
will just have to catch them “in the act” because there is a
high level of “deniability” from them if the Armed Forces will
act against the recruiters now.
Esperon also revealed that there
were exchanges of notes among junior officers but this had been
reported to the military leadership.
Before the Manila Peninsula
impasse, Trillanes also led some 300 junior officers in July 2003 at
Oakwood hotel, also in Makati, to protest alleged corruption in the
Arroyo government and the military.
Three years later, the military
was again successful in preventing a planned antigovernment action
of Lim and former Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda.
The plan supposedly was for the
plotters to join antigovernment protesters at the Edsa Shrine in
Mandaluyong City (Metro Manila) and subsequently withdraw their
support from the President, the Commander in Chief.
Many political personalities also
arrested during the protest action including a few lawmakers from
party-list groups.
|
