Soldiers walk out of trial in Manila, take over hotel

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Around a dozen uniformed Philippine soldiers on trial for a failed 2003 mutiny walked out of a courthouse on Thursday and set up camp in a luxury hotel, calling for the overthrow of the government.

There was no violence but the soldiers included a senator who led an attempt to overthrow President Arroyo in 2003 and they were joined by former vice-president Teofisto Guingona.

One of the officers, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, called for the military to rise up against the government.

“With all of the avenues closed by the … courts, no other means remains but for the officers and men of the armed forces of the Philippines and the Philippine national police to exercise their constitutional mandate and to take the powers of the sovereign people again,” Lim said in a press conference at the Peninsula Hotel.

Police threw a cordon around the hotel. National police chief Avelino Razon said Arroyo had been informed of the situation and national radio said she had called an emergency cabinet meeting.

“We urge people to stay calm,” Razon told television. “We are on the job. We will retain peace and order.”

The soldiers marched into the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel after breaking a glass door to get in, according to local television.

A Reuters reporter saw at least five truckloads of navy men around the hotel.

The officers tried to overthrow Arroyo in a bloodless coup bid in 2003, when they seized a luxury apartment block in Makati.

“We have had enough. We are calling on the people to join us here in Makati. We are not going to tolerate this kind of torment,” Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV told local television.

Trillanes was a navy officer when he led the attempted coup.

The stock market and the peso pared earlier gains on the soldiers’ actions.

The main index was up 1.17 percent after earlier climbing 2.8 percent. The peso was quoted at 42.97 against the dollar compared to Wednesday’s close at 42.86.

After storming out of the Makati City Regional Trial Court on Thursday, Senator Antonio Trillanes and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim marched to the Manila Peninsula Hotel where they read statements in front of members of the media.

Following is the transcript of Lim’s statement which he read during the conference:

“Today, we address all decent Filipinos to announce that now is the time to end the sufferings and miseries inflicted upon us by the illegitimate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo government and start a new life, a new Philippines. The die is cast pursuant to our constitutional mandate as protector of the people and state.

And by these acts the officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police supported by the masses of our people and the various political forces give substance to the constitutional provisions which says the Philippines is a democratic and republican state.

Sovereign peace resides in the people and all government authority emanate from them. That we take the faithful steps of removing Mrs Arroyo from the presidency and undertake the formation of a new government.

Mrs Arroyo had occupied the presidency under a questionable mandate publicly disputed by a vast majority of Filipinos. She stole the presidency from President Estrada through unconstitutional and deceitful means and later manipulated the results of the 2004 elections to perpetuate herself in power.

We have individually and collectively tried all means to resolve this legitimacy issue through the normal electoral, juidicial, and congressional processes but Mrs Arroyo used naked power through the issuance of Executive Order 464 and other executive proclamations and the sheer weight of numbers to paralyze the impeachment process procured at the people’s great expense to fustrate us at every turn.

After all these have failed our people tried to air their grievances in peaceful street assemblies. They thought they were exercising a combination of constitutional right which no official or agency of government may legally abridge but they were stopped and dispersed violently with cannons from firemen and truncheons from the police.

The abuses of our government continue the deliberate the deliberate refusal or failure of the dubious leaders to castigate and prosecute the people responsible for the scandalous Hello, Garci electoral cheating, the Joc-joc Bolante multi million peso fertilizer scam, Impsa bribery, the Jose Pidal and Jueteng scandals involving billions of public funds, the North Rail Project, scandal, the Venable contract scandal, the NBN scandal, the wholesale bribery of congressmen in Malacañang as well as the unabated and unresolved extrajudicial killings of citizens particularly journalists and members of the judiciary and the use of military and police officers for some unlawful mission.

Among others, these are clear proof of her failure for good and decent governance. There are numerous illegal and immoral activities and transactions conducted by these government with impunity that betray the citizens and the state of their pristine right to exist as a people with decency, dignity and integrity.

With all the avenues closed by the use of naked force, no other means remain but for the officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to exercise their constitutional mandate and to take the side of the sovereign people against this illegitimate and unjust president.

We take due indulgence and apologize for any untoward disruptions attendant to fighting this righteous cause.

We are confident that the will of the sovereign people will prevail. The end of the corrupt and vicious government and its bogus leaders is long overdue.

We support the political and economic reforms that will be initiated by the new government regardless of the personal cause it may impose on each one of us.

We therefore call on our people and all the government around the world to give the constitutional rescue initiated by our patriotic brothers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police a chance to work.

To the task of organizing a new government and pursuing a program of total and no nonsense reform, we commit our full support.

We shall do whatever we can too to prevent any backsliding to the corruption and abuse of power of the immediate past and advance the cause of truth, freedom and justice, peace and progress for all Filipinos. God bless the Filipino people. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.”

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Breaking News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.