TOO DARN HOT Retired Col. Cesar de la Peña, who has been charged along with lawyer Homobono Adaza and three others with proposing to commit a coup d’etat, peels off the CIDG regulation detainee shirt at Camp Crame during the inquest. RAFFY LERMA
AFP chief on new coup plot: Are they serious? By Nikko Dizon, Michael Lim Ubac, Jerome Aning Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 03:35:00 07/04/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The country’s top security officials on Thursday belittled the capability of lawyer Homobono Adaza and retired military and police officials to lead an alleged attempt to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from power.
“Are they serious?” Armed Forces chief of staff General Alexander Yano asked reporters in Camp Aguinaldo, the military’s general headquarters.
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said that the threat level of Adaza et al was “low.”
“Unfortunately, there is no credibility whatsoever in terms of launching a plot of the people who are supposed to be involved in this latest caper,” Teodoro said. He added that he was confident that the chances for a coup attempt to succeed was “zero.”
Teodoro also disclosed that although the Philippine National Police had confirmed the alleged coup plot, Arroyo was not unduly worried about it.
No worry
“No indication (on her part) of any worry about the destabilization plot,” said Teodoro, after a meeting of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council of Region 4-A held in Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba, Laguna.
The RDCC meeting, presided over by President Arroyo, was held to ascertain the impact on the Southern Tagalog region of Typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen), as well as check the progress of government’s relief and rehabilitation efforts.
President Arroyo kept to her schedule despite the reported new threat to her seven-year administration.
Presidential Security Group chief Celedonio Boquiren said the security alert level at the Palace complex had not been raised and that Ms Arroyo would be attending her scheduled activities for the week.
The PNP on Wednesday arrested Adaza, Army Lt. Col. Oscarlito Mapalo, retired Colonels Ernie Amboy and Cesar dela Peña, and police Supt. Rafael Cardeno after a complaint by lawyer Raymond Fortun.
Financing a coup
Fortun told the police that Adaza’s OMT Security Services Inc. attempted to solicit $4 million or P160 million from his Japanese client “in order to finance a coup d’etat.”
Adaza’s “friends in the military” would supposedly organize the coup.
The PNP charged Adaza et al with a “plot to commit coup d’etat.” Also charged were retired Colonel Edgardo Tapia and several John and Jane Does who remained at large.
Yano and Teodoro said there were no indications of renewed restiveness in the Armed Forces that could lead to a destabilization attempt.
Yano said the AFP itself had not monitored any moves to destabilize the Arroyo government anew.
He added that if the PNP investigation indeed showed that Adaza et al planned to launch a coup, the AFP still would not consider it a “serious concern.”
No doubt
“Anybody can attempt but as to the seriousness of that attempt, I do not consider it as something that we should be concerned about,” Yano said.
Yano noted that except for Mapalo, the military officers who were arrested with Adaza were already retired and did not have clout within the AFP.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the government was taking seriously the attempted coup d’etat charges filed against Adaza and the others but he belittled their capability to overthrow the government.
“He has been an exponent of this. I’ve known him for so long. I just consider him a nuisance per accidens,” Gonzalez told reporters.
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