By Carlos H. Conde
International Herald Tribune
Published: December 2, 2007
MANILA: The Philippine authorities said Sunday that they were investigating the involvement of 32 civilians, as well as members of the police force, in the failed uprising attempted last week by renegade military officers at a Manila hotel.
Avelino Razon, chief of the Philippine National Police, told reporters Sunday that the 32 “personalities,” whom he did not identify, had been briefed in advance about the plan to take over the luxury Peninsula Manila Hotel in Makati City, the capital’s business district, on Thursday in the hope of kick-starting another Philippine “people power” uprising.
He said each participant was promised 10,000 pesos, or $235, and that the plotters had tried to enlist bus operators in an attempt to mobilize people quickly. Razon said the Makati City police force was also under investigation for having failed to stop the plotters from marching to the hotel.
“We are firming up our case against these people by getting more evidence,” Razon said.
The revolt, in which the military officers and their supporters took control of the hotel and called for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was promptly quashed by the government, using SWAT teams, tanks and tear gas.
Leaders of the uprising, including Senator Antonio Trillanes 4th, a former naval officer, and Brigadier General Danilo Lim of the army, were arrested Thursday along with 49 other people, including a former vice president, Teofisto Guingona. They were charged with rebellion Saturday.
Arroyo announced a reward of 1 million pesos Saturday for turning in Captain Nicanor Faeldon of the Philippine Marines, one of the alleged leaders of the revolt. The police said Faeldon escaped at the height of the siege by disguising himself as a journalist. Three other officers are the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
“The transgressors will not hold this nation hostage with impunity,” Arroyo said Saturday. “They will be punished to the full extent of the law.”
The police said documents recovered at the hotel indicated that the revolt was part of a plot to install a civilian-military government, a newspaper reported. Asher Dolina, chief of the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said Trillanes and the others planned to form a “revolutionary transition government,” according to The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“They planned to hold on to power until the government stabilizes or all remnants of the regime are removed,” Dolina was quoted as saying. “Then they would call for elections.”
Dolina said that based on the documents, “the plans were very detailed, including the assignments of each member, the deployment of their firearms, from their descent to the elevator all the way to the march,” according to the paper.
Meanwhile, media groups in the Philippines and abroad denounced the police for having arrested 30 journalists who were covering the hotel uprising. The journalists were seen on TV being handled roughly by the police, handcuffed and hauled onto a police bus. All were released that same night.
“Never in the turbulent recent history of the Philippines has any government, including that of Ferdinand Marcos, ever taken into custody members of the media who were on the scene to do their jobs,” said the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, referring to the late Philippine dictator.
