Former marine defends embattled colleague against allegations of ‘Arroyo connection’

MANILA, Philippines – Former Marine Colonel Ariel Querubin defended embattled Colonel Generoso Mariano, who was caught on video calling for the ouster of President Benigno S. Aquino III on Tuesday. Querubin claimed Mariano wasn’t influenced by the camp of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Mariano himself said that the allegations that he was working for Arroyo were “totally untrue and (a) figment of imagination.” In a text message he sent to Querubin, Mariano said that he welcomed the investigation on his alleged connection with Arroyo and other politicians, saying he hoped “they would ferret out the truth ASAP. I’m alone in this.”

“I can vouch for him that he is not working for [Arroyo],” said Querubin. He explained that Mariano had denied that he was controlled by the Arroyo camp, and claimed his comments on video had been “taken out of context.”

“I am taking his word that he was taken out of context,” Querubin said, acknowledging that Mariano was largely sympathetic to Querubin when the bemedalled marine colonel was himself detained for being implicated in a military rebellion against the Arroyo government in 2006.

Querubin said that Mariano had been asked to be a speaker in a forum organized by a group called Solidarity for Sovereignty (S4S). It was during that discussion that he issued reportedly seditious statements against the Aquino government. But Querubin dismissed the event as an “academic discussion.”

Mariano was set to retire last Sunday upon reaching the retirement age of 56 but was stripped of his position in the Naval Reserve Command where he was deputy commander, following his controversial video, which had made the rounds of the Internet and local television stations.