courtesy of Manila Bulletin
MANILA, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) - The Philippine military is rushing around 1,500 troops to the capital Manila to crush a mutiny by rebel soldiers who have taken over a luxury hotel, a military spokesman said.
''We are preparing our forces to reinforce the National Capital Region command,'' said Major
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''We have also activated all our checkpoints to Manila to prevent third forces from taking advantage of the situation by conducting sabotage and terror activities,'' he added.
He said at least three battalions of infantry, or about 1,500 soldiers, were on their way to the Makati business district of Manila where around 30 armed soldiers were holed up in the Peninsula Hotel.
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Manila Peninsula sealed off
MANILA, Philippines -- Police and military forces, backed by armor, have sealed off the area around the Manila Peninsula and the approaches to the hotel in Makati City as the standoff with a group of accused coup plotters, led by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, continues.
Some 20 policemen have been deployed by the entrance to the hotel’s lobby while police lines have been set up near the gates to prevent people from entering.
The security forces are backed up by a number of armored personnel carriers, including two at the intersection of EDSA and Ayala Avenue and two more at the intersection of Ayala and Makati Avenues
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Hundreds of guests scramble to vacate Manila Peninsula
MANILA, Philippines -- Well-dressed guests were eating in ritzy restaurants at the Manila Peninsula hotel when dozens of uniformed soldiers burst in Thursday, took over the building and sent the patrons fleeing.
Talk about deja vu.
Four years after disgruntled troops, led by a charismatic young navy lieutenant, seized a Manila hotel in a daylong uprising, the same men walked out of their trial over the incident and barged into another hotel to again press their demands for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign.
Hundreds of guests were soon scrambling to vacate rooms as security forces surrounded the Peninsula in the rain.
"I lived here for four years, so I understand the way it is," said Tom Collins of Honolulu, who flew in for a wedding at the hotel. "It's just an inconvenience. I don't think this was handled well."
Coup plots are nothing new in the Philippines. In the years since democracy was restored in 1986, there have been some half dozen failed attempts by soldiers to seize power from democratically elected governments. Arroyo, who came to power in 2001 in the Philippines' second "people power" revolt, has faced down at least three efforts to unseat her.
Each time, confidence in the country's economy and its image as a stable democracy have been eroded.
"When they see something like this, people will not come here," said businessman Peter Randel, from Sydney, Australia. "My friends were coming but guess they won't come here any more."
The Peninsula management said 310 out of the 497 rooms were occupied before Thursday's drama began.
About 200 guests led the massive check-out, lining up in the reception area with hastily packed bags. Some carried their clothes in plastic bags.
With a huge Christmas tree standing in the lobby, two marble staircases were each guarded by a pair of armed mutineers. TV reporters and other journalists camped out in the corridors.
A Filipino couple about to get married and hold an evening reception at the hotel could hardly believe their bad luck.
"I am disappointed. Why does this have to happen today?" said groom Ryan Montano, a company executive.
His bride Mars was dressed in a wedding gown and held a bouquet of roses in her hand.
"I feel a little worried," she said, adding that the reception was moved to a nearby hotel. "I have had better days than this."
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US calls Arroyo to voice support
MANILA, Philippines -- The United States government has expressed support for the administration as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo offered assurances that the Makati standoff “will be swiftly and peacefully resolved.”
A statement from US Ambassador Kristie Kenney read by Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye expressed the US’ “support for the rule of law, constitutional order and the Philippine government.”
Bunye also said Kenney had talked to Arroyo and was assured that “this incident will be swiftly and peacefully resolved by the police with the help of the military.”
Local government officials continue to arrive in Malacañang to show support for the administration.
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Trillanes agrees to leave hotel
MANILA, Philippines -- Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and his supporters agreed to leave the hotel where they staged a six-hour siege Thursday to demand the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Trillanes and his group reached this decision as government troops broke into hotel lobby with an armored personnel carrier.
Before this, tear gas was lobbed into the lobby as an armored personnel carrier fired bursts of machinegun fire towards the hotel, according to INQUIRER.net Joel Guinto.
Earlier, Trillanes berated the administration for its “ruthlessness.”
“Tingnan niyo yung ginagawa nitong administrasyon [Look at this administration], you have to witness their ruthlessness…they're even ready not to spare the lives of mediamen,” said Trillanes.
As the teargas filled the lobby, members of the Magdalo group herded journalists to the meeting room where civil society groups and Arroyo critics had gathered.
Reporters and the renegade soldiers made makeshift facemasks of the hotel tablecloths to protect themselves from the teargas.
The hotel corridors were a mess, with lamps and tables overturned during the commotion.
Operations to flush out the group of Trillanes from the Manila Peninsula hotel in Makati City have begun, Police Director Geary Barias of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said.
From the hotel, continuous shots could be heard, according to another Guinto and Alberto.
But a rebel soldier said these were just warning shots and was confident that the government troops won’t attack because the media was there.
“Our military operation has started; it’s ongoing,” Barias told reporters from his position outside the hotel.
He said Marines and Navy troops, as well as police commandos, have entered the hotel from the fountain area at the rear, along Ayala Avenue.
A Marines tank is headed for the fountain area of the hotel from the direction of the Landmark mall.
Three large ambulances and several smaller emergency vehicles have also arrived and are parked at the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Just a few minutes ago, successive bursts of what sounded like gunfire were heard as government forces took up positions outside the hotel in preparation to serve a warrant of arrest on Trillanes and several officers being tried for plotting to toppled the government.
“We are ready to move. We will effect the warrant of arrest,” Barias said as he walked along the stretch of Makati Avenue, clapping his hands and shouting, “Let’s go, let’s go,” to several armored personnel carriers deployed on the intersection with Ayala Avenue.
Asked if they were entering the hotel, Barias replied: “Definitely.”
"We are ready to go at any time," Barias told reporters outside the hotel, where at least two armored personnel carriers had taken up position.
Earlier, police failed to serve the arrest warrant against Trillanes issued by Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati regional trial court.
Pimentel has found Trillanes guilty of contempt of court.
Trillanes said he would stay at the Manila Peninsula for “as long as necessary” after claiming that “nothing will happen” after the 3 p.m. deadline for their departure lapsed.
“What we did was not only our duty but our moral obligation,” said Trillanes said in justifying his latest act of defiance, adding, “It is our duty as religious individuals to do what is right.”
“Dumaan tayo sa tamang pamamaraan [We passed through the right processes]. Elected pero wala ring nangyari [We were elected but nothing happens]. They voted for me so that I can speak up for their rights and our advocacies,” said Trillanes, referring to his election as senator last May.
He has been barred from participating in the Senate sessions because of the criminal cases that had been filed against him.
Earlier in the day, Barias left the Manila Peninsula without talking to Trillanes despite setting the 3 p.m. deadline.
A rebel soldier in uniform said Barias was “causing too much trouble.”
Barias had ordered all guests to vacate the premises supposedly pending the results of negotiations between the government and Trillanes.
“I am asking all guests of the hotel to leave so that we can do our jobs,” Barias said in a live interview earlier in the day.
Barias issued the order as Trillanes and his comrades faced arrest after laying siege on the hotel.
But Barias said they would try to negotiate with the Trillanes camp.
Mariano Garchitorena, head of the Public Relations office of the Manila Peninsula, described the situation at the hotel as “calm” and said that if the order of the authorities was to vacate, they would follow it “like good citizens.”
Garchitorena said they had around 400 guests but that he didn't know how many had left before the pro-Trillanes forces blocked the exits.
Trillanes and other officers accused of leading the July 2003 rebellion walked out of their trial Thursday and marched through the streets of Makati calling for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
As of posting time, Trillanes and his comrades are at the Manila Peninsula where they are scheduled to hold a press conference.
The soldiers, numbering around 30, were accompanied by armed guards as they broke down a door of the hotel, overwhelmed security guards and read out a statement against Arroyo with a full list of their demands.
Heavily-armed government troops quickly surrounded the hotel in Manila's Makati financial district -- the same location of a failed 2003 coup against Arroyo allegedly led by many of the same soldiers.
The renegades urged Arroyo to resign and called on the military, a central power in this vast Southeast Asian island nation with the power to make and break its leaders, to turn against her.
People were going in and out of the Peninsula Hotel freely but a guest said he had been stopped by men with machine guns from going up to the second floor, where Brigadier General Danilo Lim, a co-accused, and others were said to be planning their next move.
The surprise events appeared to have been well orchestrated.
A detailed website immediately appeared on the Internet, announcing Lim and Trillanes as the leaders of the uprising. The site called on the Filipino people to mass in the financial district.
All the soldiers were sporting red armbands with what appeared to be the letter "I" emblazoned in the middle of a white sun.
The walkout began shortly after the trial resumed after a brief recess. Lim, who himself is detained and facing coup d’etat charges following an alleged failed coup attempt in February 2006, was pulled away by several soldiers from the witness stand.
Trillanes and Lim said they were calling on the Filipinos to withdraw support from the government because the President has corrupted its institutions.
“We are joining the people… because the President continues to violate the Constitution of the Philippines repeatedly,” Lim told DZMM’s Teleradyo program, adding they were “calling for the removal of an illegitimate President.”
Trillanes, Lim and the other accused soldiers were joined by civilians, including a group of militant farmers and opposition figures led by former vice president Teofisto Guingona.
It was not clear if the prisoners’ guards had joined the protest, but they marched along with the accused.
Reports culled by INQUIRER.net reporters and staff said police have barricaded the streets leading to Ayala Avenue and that two military trucks had crossed Paseo de Roxas.
Four Army trucks and anti-riot police have barricaded the hotel, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño said Trillanes and Lim spoke rightly.
“This government does not deserve the support of the armed forces and the people. We express solidarity with their cause and likewise call on President Arroyo to heed the people's clamor,” he said.
Leah Navarro, a convenor of the civil society group, Black and White Movement, said she was shocked when radio reports said that her group was part of the protest march although she added that they would assess the situation.
“I am shocked. I have nothing to do with it. In fact I am in Southwoods, Alabang in a golf tournament playing golf since 8 a.m. and which will be finished at 3 p.m.,” Navarro told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.
But Navarro also said that former social welfare secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman will be going to Makati “to see what’s going on.”
“We have to assess the situation. Our main concern is that those marching are safe. We don’t want violence here. We know that this thing is spontaneous,” Navarro said.
There have been at least seven coup attempts in the Philippines since 1986 as the armed forces have maintained a central role in the nation's political life since the ouster of dictator Ferdinand Marcos that year.
But Arroyo has been under particular pressure since a tape recording emerged of her allegedly conniving with an election commission official to help orchestrate her 2004 re-election.
She admitted it was a mistake to have called the official while the vote count had not yet been finished, but denied any wrongdoing.
Since then she has fought off impeachment attempts -- while being regularly accused of having improperly won the election -- as well as actual and alleged coups.
Thursday's dramatic events came just a month after Arroyo gave her predecessor and nemesis, popular ex-film star Joseph Estrada, a presidential pardon on charges of corruption.
The government said the pardon was granted after the 70-year-old Estrada agreed not to pursue any elective office.
He has always insisted his 2001 ouster from the presidential palace was a coup organized by the military, the powerful Catholic Church and the country's political elites.
With reports from Julie M. Aurelio, Inquirer; Maila Ager, Jessie Delima, Cathy Miranda, Veronica Uy, Alex Villafania, Joel Guinto, INQUIRER.net; Agence France-Presse; Reuters; Originally posted at 11:16am
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