MANILA, Philippines?Checking with his military sources, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon Monday said there were ?no actual movements? to indicate that a Malacańang coup, or a so-called Oplan August Moon, was in the works.
Rumors of such a plan have been circulating, raising fears that the administration was planning to position military generals friendly to the Arroyo administration in sensitive police and military posts by August in preparation for a coup that would backstop its bid to amend the Constitution before the end of the year.
Biazon, a former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, believed the rumors could be ?related to the rivalry between Philippine Military Class 1976 and Class ?78.? The former are currently in top positions while members of Class ?78?the class that adopted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?are beginning to enter leadership posts.
Biazon said concerns were being raised by young military officers that officers sympathetic to the administration were being given preference in upcoming promotions.
?There were fears that there would be a politicization through the manipulation by authorities of those presently in position who do not toe the line, especially with regards to Cha-cha (Charter change),? Biazon said in a phone interview.
Some officers feared that the term of AFP chief of staff Gen. Victor Ibrado would be cut short, as happened to his predecessor, Gen. Alexander Yano.
Biazon said Ibrado was perceived by young officers to be a ?professional? soldier and one ?not inclined to toe the political line? of the administration.
?There was talk that even Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Versoza would be replaced by NCRPO chief Supt. Robert Rosales Class of ?78,? Biazon said.
Earlier, Rosales denied rumors that Class ?78 entertained thoughts of joining a rumored Palace-instigated coup. ?We would not risk our families for that...we remain apolitical,? he said.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a PMA alumnus and former chief of the Philippine National Police, said he had never heard of Oplan August Moon.
But Lacson warned that anyone who backed such a plan would be ?courting political disaster, if not sudden death.?
?Class 78 may be occupying most of the sensitive positions both in the AFP and the PNP but other upper and lower classes of the PMA, integrees and reserved officers and PNPA graduates will not allow themselves to be used, not to mention civil society and the people themselves who have had enough of years of misrule under Ms Arroyo,? Lacson said in a text message.
Biazon said that those floating Oplan August Moon reports could be those who do not like the administration and it could be aimed at creating ?some sort of confusion.?
Sen. Francis Escudero, on the other hand, said the administration more likely was behind this and not the opposition, which is preparing for the 2010 polls.
He said it was possible that this would be the third option of the Arroyo administration?the first and second options being pushing Charter change or making sure that there was failure of elections.
Escudero said administration attempts to amend the Constitution through the House of Representatives have failed.
?Even if the House constitutes a constituent assembly without the Senate, lawmakers there are still short of the needed (three-fourths) vote,? he said.
Earlier, President Arroyo?s national security adviser, Norberto Gonzales, floated the idea of declaring a revolutionary ?transitory government? composed of current Church and state leaders to amend the Constitution and put in electoral reforms before next year?s presidential polls.
Escudero said he could not just dismiss rumors of Oplan August Moon because ?the problem of any outgoing administration is an exit plan.?
?I just hope the current administration thinks up an exit plan that is within the legal framework, not something illegal or violent,? said the senator in Filipino.
