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COMMUNIST leader said that leftist groups, together with
disgruntled military and police personnel and other
anti-Arroyo groups are moving to oust President Arroyo.
Interviewed in the
Netherlands,
Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the
Philippines, said: “She [Arroyo] can fix the
Constitution so she could stay on beyond 2010. But it
remains to be seen if she can stay on and end her
administration by 2010.”
Sison
said the mass organizations of the national democratic
movement, the opposition parties, factions within the
military and police organizations, among others, would
try their best to wrest power from Mrs. Arroyo before
her term ends.
“[Groups
opposing] Mrs. Arroyo ... would be waiting for more
developments. But you can never tell because the ouster
protest is still there and the crisis might move faster
then we can imagine,” Sison said.
He,
however, did not favor the action of detained Sen.
Antonio Trillanes IV and other military officers during
the standoff at the Peninsula Manila Hotel in Makati
City on November 29, 2007, when they called for people
support for the ouster of Mrs. Arroyo.
“I don’t
consider that as coup or rebellion. It was just a
protest action but then it might have the objective for
[the] troops’ withdrawal [of support to the government].
They were expecting people to support them? Impossible,”
Sison said.
In Davao
City, Mrs. Arroyo critics went to radio stations to call
on the public to support their move to unseat the
President but no one identified who they were.
The
appeal for support came only in the form of manifestos
from such groups as “Hataw” and “Hatak” and were
clandestinely distributed on late Wednesday night or
dawn of Thursday.
The
manifestos cited the alleged ills of the Arroyo
administration, including corruption, as among the
rallying call to unseat the President.
Chief
Supt. Andres Caro II, Davao Region police commander,
said that the manifesto was being circulated “members of
an unidentified group from Manila and for signature of
those who are against the Arroyo government.”
Supt.
Querubin Manalang, police regional spokesman, said he
saw a copy of the manifesto but the poor facsimile copy
has many portions that are unreadable. “I only saw the
column of lines for signature of those who are against
the administration.”
Maj.
Gen. Rene Badilla, deputy commander of the Eastern
Mindanao Command, said that the military is closely
watching the recruitment activities here of persons
believed linked to a destabilization plot.
At the
same time, joint operations by the National Police and
Armed Forces are ongoing to identify other groups and
individuals who may be involved in the supposed plot to
overthrow the government following the arrest of five
former soldiers early this week, the military said.
“Even at
this very moment, there are follow-up operations being
conducted. This is the very reason why on Wednesday we
did not give details about the arrest or what happened,”
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, Armed Forces public
information officer, said on Thursday.
Target
of the continuing operations are other individuals and
groups who may be involved in the fresh effort to
destabilize the administration.
On
Wednesday, the National Police filed before the
Department of Justice illegal possession of firearms
charges against former Army Scout Ranger sergeant
Orlando Valencia and Cpls. Ramon Perania, Redantel
Maranan and Walter Francisco and former Marine Cpl. Kim
Aguas.
The
five, who have been discharged from the service because
of their involvement in the February 2006 coup, were
arrested by soldiers and policemen on Tuesday night
onboard two vehicles parked infront of a house on 94 N.
Ramirez Street, Galas, Quezon City.
The five
yielded two M-16 rifles and a Russian-made AK-47 assault
rifle along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Two
of the firearms were recovered inside the house where
one of the soldiers sought refuge.
The
justice department’s panel of prosecutors, however,
released Valencia on Thursday afternoon for lack of
evidence.
Bacarro
said that the charges of illegal possession were
initially filed against the former soldiers while they
were being investigated for the destabilization move.
He
justified the detention of the five, who are now
civilians, at the headquarters of the Intelligence
Service, Armed Forces owing to the continuing
investigation into the reported destabilization plot.
“There
are some operational concerns, this is why they are in
the custody of Isafp,” Bacarro said.
Trixie
Angeles, one of the lawyers of the arrested former
soldiers, said she would file a petition for writ of
amparo before the Supreme Court to force the Armed
Forces to disclose the details surrounding the arrest of
their clients.
Meanwhile, Bacarro also confirmed that a soldier in
active duty, Army Sgt. Jaime Dumagpi of the Scout
Rangers, was picked up by the military inside Camp
Aguinaldo on Monday night.
Bacarro,
however, said he did not know Dumagpi’s whereabouts.
“I have
to check where he is now … and in whose custody,” he
said.
Police
investigators said that Dumagpi, reportedly the driver
of a detained Army official, was ordered to monitor the
transport of arms to rebel soldiers belonging to a group
called “Para sa Bayan.” (With R. Acosta and M. Cayon) |
