(UPDATE 3) Trillanes, comrades holed up at Makati hotel

INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:58pm (Mla time) 11/29/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV 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 walkout began shortly after the trial resumed after a brief recess. Brigadier General Danilo 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 *****, 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.,” ***** told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

But ***** 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,” ***** said.

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:confused: what the heck is going on with us...

Go to Hell Trillanes!!
Is this the reason you ran for public office?To create chaos and confusion to Filipinos

Oakwood mutiny part two??

hindi na ba matatapos tong gulong to?

haiz pesteng mga tao un... ayaw tuloy kami pauwiin... /e5

@^
gawa ka eksena para pauwiin kayo. /ok

"Palabasin ninyo kame kundi susunod tong building na to sa glorietta 2!"

@^
lolz.. wish ko lang girl kung pwede.. :lolz:

good thing ung pag stay namin dito sa bldg isa with pay.. :sidious:

Transcript from Brig.Gen. Lim statement

And to think what they're doing is decent?

lalo lang nila ginugulo ang Pilipinas, magulo na nga eh...bat kaya yan naging ganun eh ung senador na un considered prisoner naman dba? bakit hinayaan gumala sa labas...sana prison to hearing and hearing to prison lang....

This Trillanes man is NUTS.Simply Crazy
At the onset,he announced that they are prepared for the worst.
Nakaamoy lang ng tear gas ,he excused that they surrendered because he doesnt want people to get hurt

How lame. /pif
I just wish that someOne would put a bullet to his empty head

wrong reason(maybe not too wrong) at the wrong time at the wrong cause. how bad can that be?

what help? there is no cure for corruption. Every time you remove these politicians you end up replacing them with the same kind. You have to understand that every single one of them from the lowest ranking is beyond redemption. The only 2 reasons why people venture into politics is because of power and wealth and public service is just a secondary motive.

I refused to believe that Trillanes was stupid but heck he just proved he really is. He is stupid enough to lean on people who are only there for political reasons. This country's problems are too big for him to handle. It's soooo big that none of the previous presidents were able to solve. And here you are thinking you can do what god has damned. It's so pitiful, i understand you're struggles but your a fool thinking you can change a thing. This country is not yet ready for a revolution, and you'd be long dead when this country actually realizes it's in deep shit. So if i were I'd shut my mouth and give myself a nice makeover and goodies for the kids and hot sex for my wife. All that could have been yours but no you refuse that kind of life so here you are about to get yourself a miserable future and possibly no more woman to warm your bed for the rest of your life. :)

Well, there will be really difference in our opinions. Hindi mawawala yan.

Hindi ko lang alam kung bakit may curfew pa!! Paano na kami eh 6am shift namin 430am umaalis na ako ng bahay pag dulo pa ng mundo yung pag-dutyhan ko! /pif

Gulo talaga. /ag

how i was affected:

my shift is 1am...

7:30pm
woe sana kaso smart bro down = no net. text message sa phone galing sa TL namin:

pls be advised that there is a curfew imposed from 12mn to 5am. please leave ur homes early and avoid being on the streets between those times. travel safe...

*ugh. natulog lang ako martial law na?*

10:35pm

left the house and arrived at eastwood at around 11:05pm

11:05pm

"WTF!!! sarado na ang lahat ng kainan except for kfc??!!"

- for short, walang kainan before work -

- - -

as u know in our history, the military plays an important role in our politics. the president owes his/her smooth stay in office to them...there goes the national budget.

well who in their right mind voted for Trillanes in the first place? my goodness, what stupidity led prisoners to march to manila pen and hole up in makati as well. conspiracy? hahaha, must be a political move. see, ex vp guingona got away scot free (though i must say he has guts to stand for his beliefs at his age).

[rflash]LATEST NEWS[/rflash]

‘Worse than a terrorist’--Congressman Arroyo

By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:22pm (Mla time) 11/30/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- “Worse than a terrorist” was how President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s brother-in-law and Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio Arroyo described Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for leading the latest failed uprising in Makati City.

“For one who was elected to uphold the law, what Trillanes did was reprehensible and should be condemned in the strongest terms,” Congressman Arroyo said in a statement on Friday.

“He must be made to account for the damage he has done to our people, our economy, our country,” he said.

For Trillanes to present himself as a hero, the congressman said, was “bizarre, to say the least.”

“Trillanes should go back to school to learn the basics of law. He is worse than a terrorist because he is terrorizing the country,” the lawmaker added.

Meanwhile, Akbayan partylist group will seek a congressional inquiry into the arrest made on media members, who covered the incident.

Former congresswoman Loretta Ann Rosales, chairperson emeritus of Akbayan, said the group through its representative in the House of Representatives, Risa Hontiveros, would file a resolution to look into the “overkill” and “shabby” treatment of the police on those arrested.

“Very shabby ang treatment [The treatment was very shabby]. Overkill ang ginawang pag-aresto [The arrest was an overkill] considering that they were just there to cover the event -- not as participants but as objective and disinterested elements in a democratic environment,” Rosales said in a phone interview.

Rosales did not buy the police explanation that the journalist were just invited for questioning amid reports that some rebel soldiers had allegedly disguised themselves as media members.

“They can of course argue it out that way and I can understand that. But for them not to identify especially those TV personalities that we always see in the news, that’s a lot of bull. And that nullifies the argument that they make,” she said.

Rosales said the arresting officers should know what they were doing as their ignorance and lack of information could not be used as an excuse to bungle their jobs and violate the rights of other people.

lol...

nakakatawa talaga...

dapat nilabanan na lang ni trillanes ang sumugod sa kanya...and if he died

in the heat of the battle maybe filipinos would respect him and would create

a bigger opportunity for what he wants...a new government...

naging martyr pa sana sya...

and ung excuse nya dahil sa teargas leche...if he wanted change...

blood must shed imho....

lol why would he do that. i don't think he intends to die for this country in order to install change because imho he intends to play a bigger part in this nation's politics once his plans succeed.

then man of war

he doesnt really value the freedom or the change he wants for the country

he made a fool of himself...adding more crime to his case...

sa lagay na yan...duwag sya...so what can he do now? imho people wont

back him up again for the failed attempt again to change the government..

as we are witness to the first and second attempts..nakita naman natin

walang nagback up sa kanya even with enough fire power to wage war

against the government...if i were him nag rebelde na lang sana sya...

sumama sa mga npa abu sayaf or create a new faction...pagod na

ang tao sa mga palabas nya...nothing is gained to what he and his

cohorts did...

THIS IS OUR MILITARY

Lumad families flee as troops hunt down NPAs

By Chris V. Panganiban, Joselle Badilla
Mindanao Bureau
Last updated 07:46am (Mla time) 12/02/2007

SAN FRANCISCO, AGUSAN del Sur -- At least 215 lumad families fled their homes in Lianga and Hinatuan towns in Surigao del Sur since Nov. 1 as soldiers poured in for offensives against communist rebels.

Classes in seven lumad literacy facilities and high schools were also disrupted when soldiers rounded up teachers, students and schoolchildren and asked them if they were supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA), according to Rev. Modesto Villasanta, chair of Karapatan in Surigao del Sur.

Villasanta said the military presence has disrupted classes of at least 500 schoolchildren, 177 high school students and 27 teachers.

Villasanta said the soldiers also started to occupy the houses of fleeing civilians.

Col. Jose Vizcarra, commander of the 401st Brigade based in Surigao del Sur, admitted the ongoing military operation in the province.

He said another operation was launched on Wednesday after NPA rebels ambushed a group of soldiers delivering medicines to a remote village of Lianga.

But Vizcarra said contrary to Karapatan’s claim, the soldiers did not interrogate students and teachers in the affected villages.

“We were not even allowed inside the schools,” he told the Inquirer.

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AND SOMETHING AMUSING, AN AFTERMATH FROM THE "OTHER" MILITARY

Manila Pen rebels to sue cops for illegal detention

By Alcuin Papa
Inquirer
Last updated 01:54am (Mla time) 12/02/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The lawyers of the 51 soldiers and civilians arrested in connection with the failed revolt at the Peninsula Manila hotel are considering filing charges of illegal detention against the Philippine National Police for failing to meet the 36-hour deadline to file charges against their clients.

However, state prosecutors maintained that the 36-hour deadline only applied to the submission of information of the charges to them by the PNP.

Ibarra Gutierrez III, legal counsel of some of the civilians accused, told the Inquirer that based on the rules of the Department of Justice itself, the deadline applied to the whole inquest process.

“Any first-year law student knows that the 36-hour period means the delivery of the accused together with the charges before the court, not before the prosecutors. Our next step is to study the filing of illegal detention charges,” he said.

Gutierrez said his clients had waived their right to a preliminary investigation to facilitate the dismissal of the cases.

In any case, the deadline to file charges against the accused should have lapsed at 7 a.m. yesterday. “The charges should have been filed by then. But that has not been accomplished yet; the accused are still under detention,” Gutierrez said.

Considered submitted

On the other hand, State Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes told reporters after the inquest proceedings on Friday night that the process was lawful because the information or complaint provided by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) against the accused was submitted or referred to them within the prescribed 36 hours.

Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco also told the reporters that the complaint was “considered submitted for resolution.”

At press time, the DOJ panel led by Velasco and composed of Reyes, Philip dela Cruz and Alvin ***** were still trying to determine whether there was enough basis to bring charges against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and company.

Fifty-one civilians and soldiers have been accused of rebellion and inciting to rebellion, which are punishable with life imprisonment. Escaped Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon was also charged.

Insurrection

In the five-hour inquest proceedings at the Camp Crame Multi-Purpose Hall, the DOJ panel informed the accused that they were being charged with rebellion as defined in Article 134 of the Revised Penal Code.

Article 134 describes the crime of rebellion or insurrection as “rising publicly and taking arms against the government for the purpose of removing from the allegiance to said government or its laws, the territory of the Philippine Islands or any part thereof, of any body of land, naval or other armed forces, depriving the Chief Executive or the legislature, wholly or partially, of any of their powers or prerogatives.”

The inquest panel also ordered the release of former University of the Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo and writer-actress Bibeth Orteza, a cancer survivor, on “humanitarian” grounds.

Nemenzo, 72, was released to the custody of Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel. Virgilio Pablico, chief lawyer of the CIDG, did not object.

Guingona, Labayen

Earlier on Friday, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona and Infanta Bishop Julio Labayen were also released from detention. Labayen was released to the custody of Bishop Rolando Tirona at around 1:30 p.m. and taken to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City.

Guingona was released to the custody of his wife at around 5 p.m. and taken to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City. But yesterday morning, he returned to Camp Crame to visit his daughter Estrella, who had been arrested along with him.

All the accused are detained at the Camp Crame Custodial Center. Security was tight, with each of the accused allowed only three visitors.