IN A SHOW of unity and support for the administration of President Aquino, policemen and soldiers from the military’s Southern Luzon Command and Quezon province link arms on Feb. 18. DELFIN T. MALLARI JR./INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON
LIPA CITY—A group of Church leaders, allies of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and now detained former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had denied they were plotting the overthrow of President Benigno Aquino III over a series of blunders, the latest of which involved the deaths of 44 police commandos in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao province.
Leaders of the National Transformation Council (NTC), which describes itself as a collegial body, said it is demanding Mr. Aquino’s resignation and replacement by an “interim government” but that this could not be achieved by a coup d’ etat.
“We are not planning a coup. The armed forces should not lead the fight to change government,” said Norberto Gonzales, former defense chief of Arroyo who had been described by Sen. Antonio Trillanes as a “sociopath.”
“We have not approached the armed forces to come out in the streets and declare they are supporting NTC,” said Gonzales.
“I think there’s time for that,” he said.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had warned NTC against committing “a proposal or conspiracy to commit the crime of coup d’ etat.”
In a press conference here on Thursday, Gonzales said NTC would hold a congress in different regions with leaders of different sectors.
“What we’re trying to do today is to try to define who among our people will lead this effort,” he said. “Give a new shape to people power (as it) can’t be as spontaneous as before,” he added.
He said NTC also intends to “revive the mass movement and peoples’ organizations to ensure that the poor would have a place once the transition government is over.”
“You may think this is a long process but I think it can be done in a matter of months,” he said.
Aside from Gonzales, also present at the NTC gathering at the St. Francis de Sales Minor Seminary gymnasium of Lipa were former Marcos information minister Francisco Tatad, former Arroyo Chief Justice Renato Corona and Church leaders that included Archbishops Fernando Capalla of Davao and Ramon Arguelles of Lipa.
The event was attended by around 2,000 NTC supporters who joined the community singing of “Bayan Ko,” a song identified with People Power 1 which led to the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship.
Asked by reporters about their affiliation to the Arroyo administration, Gonzales called such observation as “judgmental.” “I want to help… so be it,” Gonzales said.
On Arroyo, he said, “she made a lot of mistakes and has many shortcomings but I will prefer her many times over this President (Aquino).”
According to NTC, establishing an interim council is the answer to a Constitution that already lost its logic after Mr. Aquino repeatedly violated it through many controversial issues, like the Disbursement Acceleration Program.
“The Constitution is no longer working. The moral logic is no longer there,” said Tatad, who read Proclamation No. 1081 of the late dictator Marcos that suspended habeas corpus and placed the entire country under martial law in 1972.