PHILIPPINES: MILITARY MUTINY LEADER SAYS UPRISING WAS LAST RESORT AFTER PRESIDENT ARROYO IGNORED GRAFT ALLEGATIONS
Record ID:
647520
PHILIPPINES: MILITARY MUTINY LEADER SAYS UPRISING WAS LAST RESORT AFTER PRESIDENT ARROYO IGNORED GRAFT ALLEGATIONS
- Title: PHILIPPINES: MILITARY MUTINY LEADER SAYS UPRISING WAS LAST RESORT AFTER PRESIDENT ARROYO IGNORED GRAFT ALLEGATIONS
- Date: 14th August 2003
- Summary: (U2) MANILA, PHILIPPINES (AUGUST 13, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV INQUIRY PANEL OPENING SESSION 0.12 2. MV MUTINY LEADER NAVY LIEUTENANT ANTONIO TRILLANES ENTERING ROOM 0.26 3. SLV AUDIENCE; MV TRILLANES TAKING OATH; SLV PANEL; SCU TRILLANES LOOKING AT DOCUMENTS; SLV PANEL (6 SHOTS) 1.05 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NAVY LIEUTENANT ANTONIO TRILLANES SAYING "The bottom line sir, when you're talking about grievances, the bottom line is corruption and apparently this whole world had no idea of the gravity of corruption in the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines). And, so at a culminating point of the corruption sir so right now at least our country has an idea, or glimpse. But there's still more." 1.54 5. WIDE OF HEARING 2.00 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NAVY LIEUTENANT ANTONIO TRILLANES SAYING "But instead of opening her eyes about the new information, serious allegations that I just raised, she again went on berating me and in fact ordered me detained and paraded through the media for reasons I cannot really comprehend, sir." 2.26 7. SLV PANEL 2.31 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NAVY LIEUTENANT ANTONIO TRILLANES SAYING "She just kept on yakking and yakking (smiles)." 2.44 9. MV GOVERNMENT LAWYER OBJECTING TO LANGUAGE USED BY TRILLANES 3.01 10. SCU COURT STENOGRAPHER 3.08 11. SCU SECURITY FADE TO SLV HEARING 3.17 12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NAVY LIEUTENANT ANTONIO TRILLANES SAYING (Q: You were demanding that GMA stepped down, assuming that she stepped down, who would have replaced her - you?) Definitely not sir. (Senator Honasan?) No, sir. (Vice-President Guingona?) "Maybe sir since we did not demand his resignation." 3.37 13. MV GOVERNMENT LAWYER QUESTIONING TRILLANES; SLV HEARING (3 SHOTS) 3.53 (FILE - JULY 2003) (REUTERS) 14. SLV DAYSHOTS RENEGADE SOLDIERS OUTSIDE OAKWOOD APARTMENT DURING/ SETTING UP FLAG/ RENEGADE SOLDIERS (5 SHOTS) 4.10 15. SLV NIGHTSHOTS OF RENEGADE SOLDIERS WALKING OUTSIDE OAKWOOD APARTMENT BUILDING (3 SHOTS) 4.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th August 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Reuters ID: LVA66J2CRR6KWP49KDLMBNWKLP76
- Story Text: Mutiny leader says uprising was a last resort after
President Arroyo ignored graft allegations.
One of six junior officers who led a failed mutiny
by Philippine troops told an independent inquiry on
Wednesday (August 13) he was rebuffed by President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo when he tried to tell her about corruption
in the military.
Navy Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes, one of 321 elite
soldiers facing coup charges over the July 27 siege in
Manila's business district, said he met Arroyo two weeks
before the uprising but ended up being detained for five
days on her verbal order.
"But instead of opening her eyes about the new
informaiton, serious allegations that I just raised, she
again went on berating me and in fact ordered me detained
and paraded through the media for reasons I cannot really
comprehend, sir," he told the panel chaired by retired
judge Florentino Feliciano.
"She just kept on yakking and yakking," he added.
Trillanes, the most visible mutineer during the 19-hour
siege, was cautioned several times by the panel that an
officer was supposed to be a gentleman and show proper
respect to the president and commander-in-chief.
Arroyo, who was criticised for jubilantly thrusting her
arms in the air at a news conference after the siege, said
late last month she met Trillanes at the presidential
palace on July 13.
She said then that she had told General Narciso Abaya,
the armed forces' chief of staff, to investigate the
allegations made by Trillanes during their 90-minute
meeting.
The renegade soldiers accused senior officials of
making weapons deals with rebels and staging bombings
blamed on Muslim guerrillas to win more military aid from
the United States.
Government and military officials have said the mutiny
was the sharp end of an attempted coup to set up a 15-man
ruling junta with the financial and logistical support of
some of Arroyo's political enemies.
National Security Adviser Roilo Golez told the inquiry
on Tuesday "impressionable and exploitable" junior officers
were manipulated into an attempt to install deposed
President Joseph Estrada for three days before he would be
asked to step aside.
Estrada, now on trial on economic plunder charges after
he was ousted by an army-backed popular revolt in January
2001 that elevated Arroyo from vice president, has denied
any involvement.
State prosecutors have issued subpoenas to Gregorio
Honasan, an opposition senator and former army colonel
linked to coup plots in the 1980s, and six others giving
them until mid-August to contest pending coup charges.
Honasan, who has made no public appearances since the
mutiny, has said the government is fabricating a case
against him.
Arroyo, who insists she will not run in elections due
by next May, has vowed that the mutineers and their backers
will face the full force of the law after the ninth army
uprising in 17 years.
Leading a coup carries a jail term of up to 40 years,
but participants in previous attempts were given light
sentences. In 1990, then Defence Secretary Fidel Ramos
punished mutinous troops by ordering them to do 100
pushups.
Trillanes, who said he had details of pervasive
corruption in the procurement of military equipment, was
asked by members of the inquiry whether his pledges as an
officer not to lie and cheat extended to loyalty to the
country.
Arroyo said on Tuesday (August 12) she had created two
task forces to "institute long-needed reforms" at the
Department of National Defence, particularly equipment
procurement by the armed forces.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None