Marine colonel calls for Aquino’s ouster

Colonel Generoso Mariano, deputy commander of the Naval Reserve Command, reads from a prepared statement which calls for the ouster of the Aquino government. Mariano, who will retire this Sunday, is confined to his quarters at the marine headquarters pending a formal investigation. CONTRIBUTED VIDEO

MANILA, Philippines —A marine colonel was restricted to quarters after he called in a video for President Benigno Aquino’s ouster.

Colonel Generoso Mariano, deputy commander of the Naval Reserve Command, will be confined to his quarters at the marine headquarters pending formal investigation, Vice Admiral Alexander Pama said.

In a video sent to members of the media, Mariano said the Aquino government “has no capability to save us from hunger and death.”

“We soldiers also feel the impact of unrelenting rise in prices of commodities, medicines and food,” he said in the 95-second tape.

“If this government has no intention or is not doing anything to save the life of the majority it is the right of every Filipino including soldiers to replace the government. I repeat replace the government,” he said.

“Let us once and for all build a nation based on truth for without it there can be justice, and without justice we shall have no peace and without peace there will be no development,” said Mariano, who is set to retire Sunday when he reaches the military retirement age of 56.

The video dated July 3 shows Mariano reading a statement while seated at a table with a microphone. The clip was sent to journalists and reportedly distributed in military camps.

The shared videos on Facebook come from the account of a group calling itself the “Oust Noynoy Movement!”. Noynoy is Aquino’s nickname.

Pama downplayed the Mariano’s video statement as he put the marine colonel under investigation.

“We will investigate to find out what his motive is,” Pama said, noting that Mariano did not raise issues against the military establishment.

But whether the move “is being orchestrated by somebody else, we do not know,” Pama said.

Vice commandant of the Philippine Marines General Eugenio Clemen has been tasked to head the investigating body, Pama said.

The 120,000-strong Philippine military, which has been battling Muslim and communist insurgencies for decades, has been wracked by restiveness since late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown in 1986. More than a dozen coup attempts since then have undermined civilian rule.

Aquino, the son of late democracy icon and former president Corazon Aquino, has kept his approval ratings high — between 60 percent and 70 percent. His landslide election victory last year is credited to his clean image, family legacy and a program to uplift the poor through a vigorous anti-corruption drive in the bureaucracy and greater budget allocations for social services.

With reports from Associated Press and Agence France-Presse