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By Jefferson Antiporda, Reporter
A plot was allegedly being hatched to shorten
the term of Chief of Staff Victor Ibrado and to replace him with a
general who would support changing the Constitution to allow
President Gloria Arroyo stay in power after 2010.
The replacement was said to be Delfin Bangit,
the commanding general of the Philippine Army, a military source
told some reporters covering the Department of Defense. The source
asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from superiors.
Members of Philippine Military Academy (PMA)
Class of 1978 would allegedly carry out the plot in October, dubbed
“Operation August Moon,” the source said. The plan was given
that name because it was to start in August and end in October.
Besides the military’s top post, other key
positions were to be given to members of the Class of 1978, he
added.
President Gloria Arroyo, whose term ends in
2010, is an adopted member of the class.
The supposed plot involves a three-month
campaign to push Bangit, codenamed “The Emperor” in the plot, as
chief of staff by October this year.
Just recently, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson
branded Ibrado as a lame duck chief of staff, because Bangit was
already poised to take over the post once Ibrado retires next year.
Bangit, a former chief of the Presidential
Security Group (PSG) from 2003 to 2006, was the military officer who
sponsored the President to be an adopted member of the Philippine
Military Academy’s Class of 1978.
The Presidential Security Group is the unit that
provides security detail to the President and her family.
Ibrado was appointed in May and was expected to
lead the Armed Forces for nine months before reaching mandatory
retirement age in March 2010.
But with the recently uncovered plot, the
unnamed military source said that chances were Ibrado would only
serve as chief of the military for five months.
The Times tried calling Ibrado on Sunday to ask
him about the alleged plot but was unsuccessful.
The military’s spokesman, Public Information
Office chief Romeo Brawner, said the alleged plot was
“non-existent” and that the military remains loyal to the
government.
Story not true
The Times also called Bangit but was only able
to reach his spokesman, Army Col. Marcelo Burgos.
Burgos said the alleged plot was not true,
adding that those behind the story should insulate the military from
politics.
“There’s no truth behind it,” Burgos
insisted. “First of all such kind of plot is unhealthy to the
organization, and the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] has a
mission to accomplish which is to defeat insurgency by next year, we
have no time for that.”
He added that members of Class of 1978 have good
relations with other Philippine Military Academy classes, and there
was no friction whatsoever among them.
There was no need for the military to get
involved with politics, Burgos said, and Charter change was a
political matter that should be left to politicians.
Burgos said he suspected that such allegations
could be a handiwork of Bangit’s detractors or other groups that
want to destabilize the government.
Military and ‘Cha-cha’
The military source also told The Times that a
number of soldiers have joined the swelling ranks of disgruntled
soldiers in the military, adding that a serious problem could arise
if President Arroyo insisted on using the military, particularly
members of Class of 1978, in pushing Charter change.
But Bangit denied that there was no
disenchantment among some members of the military and that the
institution was solid.
The military spokesman said that the information
about the plot could have come from groups that aimed to sow
confusion in the military.
A number of military leaders have also
maintained that the Armed Forces has matured as an institution and
would remain apolitical and professional in its service for
legitimate leaders.
The military was key in the success of EDSA 1
and 2, which toppled the governments of the day in bloodless coups.
In EDSA 1, then President Ferdinand Marcos went into exile in
1986, and in the second EDSA, then-President Joseph Estrada was
forced to relinquish power amid mounting criticisms of corruption
and mismanagement. He was replaced by his then vice president, Mrs.
Arroyo, under whose term Estrada was convicted of plunder but
pardoned shortly after.
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said earlier
that he believed that the military would not meddle with the
political affairs of the government again.
“The AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines]
should be insulated from partisan politics,” he added. “Our
responsibility is to serve the interest of the nation above our own
and let us leave political exercise to the politicians.”
Teodoro, also one of those aspiring to be
president after Mrs. Arroyo, also called on other sectors to leave
the military alone and allow it to focus on the twin threats of
terrorism and rebellion.
He also downplayed military adventurism, and
that it was a thing of the past. The Armed Forces was now a solid
and professional organization, Teodoro said.
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