NEWSFLASH

AFP CHIEF: COUP TEXTERS FACE ARREST

MANILA, November 9, 2002 (STAR)By Christina Mendez - Text a coup? "I’ll whack you!"

This was the dead-serious warning of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Benjamin Defensor yesterday to any person who attempts to incite people to join a coup d’état — including those who send out text message "jokes" about a rebellion.

People who attempt to incite rebellion will be arrested and tried, Defensor said in a statement. "I have already given the orders. Even those who are caught texting," he said.

"They may text a joke," the AFP chief said, "but not about a coup, because it’s not funny."

"If you are in the active service and I catch you (texting coup rumors), I will whack you. You’d better be careful," Defensor warned military personnel.

The statement was made in light of spreading rumors that money is being distributed around various AFP camps to get soldiers to join in efforts to destabilize the government. Since the rumors began, text messaging on the matter has gone into overdrive. It is unknown who is funding the effort or how much money has been put into it.

Earlier this week, former AFP chief Lisandro Abadia "said the coup threat is serious, though no one seems to be buying it," the AFP statement said.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the rumors are baseless and Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes called the rumors "recycled hogwash." All military officials are one in denying any such plans are in the works.

"The plot seems to get thicker by the day, where there is nothing happening, when it’s all shadows and sounds and no real characters," AFP spokesman retired Brig. Gen. Eduardo Purificacion said.

"To set things straight, the AFP leadership has decided today to stop the madness by actively going after pranksters and ‘forwarders’ of coup messages," Purificacion said. "They are just troublemakers."

"We’ve been through the real tragedy of coups in the past," Marine Commandant Librado Ladia said. "We’ve learned our lessons. There will never be another coup."

Meanwhile, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez, wo is also Lakas-NUCD spokesman, said the country’s prevailing social conditions do not favor a military takeover.

Alvarez also told the Balitaan sa Hotel Rembrandt forum in Quezon City that "any coup d’ etat at this point in time will only last for 24 hours."

According to Alvarez, a coup d’état will only prosper if the government were massively corrupt and insensitive to the plight of the people. This, he said, is not the case, as President Arroyo and her administration still enjoy the people’s support — particularly from the labor sector.

"Students and workers will be out in the streets," he said. "The activities in the country would just come to a halt."

"How can a coup prosper if the President brings home the bacon, negotiates peace with rebels and addresses the economic problem of the country?" Alvarez asked.

A recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey supports Alvarez’s position on the coup issue, as it reveals that a "strong majority" of Filipinos polled are "vehemently opposed" to the idea of a military-backed government.

In a statement, the SWS said 63 percent of survey respondents "reject the idea of a military government." The study also shows that Filipinos expect the Philippines to become an "ideal state" soon.

The SWS statement said "the average expectation of the country’s position on the scale five years from now was 7.7 or more than halfway between the present condition and the ideal state."

Alvarez, meanwhile, also expressed confidence in the leadership of the AFP. "They (the AFP generals) have masters’ degrees in various courses. They took advanced studies in other countries that makes them more intellectual than the traditional soldier."

With this education and mode of thinking, Alvarez said, the country’s military leaders will only support a military takeover if the nation’s political and economic situation deteriorates.

Asked in an interview with ABS-CBN News whether he had been approached by coup plotters to join in a military takeover, former Education Secretary Raul Roco said "put a stop to (these rumors). It is unpatriotic to even think it. It is unpatriotic to think that they (coup plotters) can approach me."

"I’ll reprimand them. I may even arrest them. I’m a lawyer (and) I took my oath to support the Constitution. They approach me and I’ll arrest them."

Roco said any military personnel caught inciting rebellion "should stop it and we, as a people, should discourage them... reprimand them."

"If there are such military people who are trying to develop another coup, they are a disgrace. They swore to serve the country, we pay for all of them, they have pledged loyalty to the Constitution, they must protect the people and we are the people. We demand that they follow the Constitution."

Sen. Joker Arroyo said coup rumors are being fanned by the military in a bid to secure a bigger intelligence fund. Arroyo and Sen. Rodolfo Biazon both shrugged off the possibility a coup may be staged by the military at this time.

Arroyo said "only those in the military are interested in the coup rumors because they want to have a bigger intelligence budget."

A former AFP chief himself, Biazon said "President Arroyo should move in and stop this foolishness because these talks of a coup are emanating from her allies."

Biazon was referring to the word war between Abadia and Reyes – both of whom are supporters of the President, over reported unrest within the military.

"If Abadia and Reyes have any conflict, they should settle it among themselves instead of dragging the country (into it) and causing harm by scaring away potential investors," Biazon said.

"I would support any move by the President to chop the heads of some influential people around her," Biazon added, "the soldiers are getting tired of this talk (of a coup). The President should discipline her people."

Biazon also said his talks with key military officers showed there is no move for a coup. Instead, he said, "the government is better advised to monitor not the military but the social and economic issues in the country... We should not bother the military anymore. Let the military go after the rebels."

Besides Abadia and Reyes, a verbal tussle between National Security Adviser Roilo Golez and former PC-INP chief Ramon Montaño was, literally, in the air. The four made heated exchanges during separate radio interviews over dzRH and other AM radio stations over the past few days.

Golez took strong exception to Montaño’s statements demanding that the President’s top security advisers resign for their "intelligence failure" in preventing terrorist attacks and "non-detection" of coup rumblings.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, however, dismissed Montaño’s call for the security advisers’ resignations. would like ot appeal to the public not to believe these coup rumors because there’s really no basis for them." — With Perseus Echeminada, Efren Danao, Marichu Villanueva

Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi