More Plots in Manila?
April 21st, 2006
I stayed up late at night to watch a episode of the Probe team and see interviews conducted by Cherche Lazaro, on the latest’s twists and turns in the present struggle of band of Military rebels to try and sow more plots to unseat the Arroyo government.
I should clarify - the term Military rebels to the term Oakwood Mutineers; I don't really think they like the term "Magdelo Group", Even though they accepted it later on- it's quite interesting how the term came to be known that way.
When the first reports were flashed on TV of the men in Makati at the time setting up explosives and other devices to secure Gloriteta 4 and the Oakwood towers above them - A producer noted the Armbands and said- that looks like the symbol of the Aguinaldo brigade from Cavite during the katipunan time - from then a graphics artist picked up the flag off a book of early Philippine flag and noted the inscription "Magdelo" so it was broadcast - the rebels at the time even called in to the news-desk to say who is the Magdelo group? Clarifying they were not named that - but the name and symbol stuck. So the irony is the right wing military group may have been named by left wing liberal writers and producers whose ties and politics are anything but - right wing.
Anyhow; the new name stuck - the Military rebels liked it in the end and the rest is history as it were. Don't believe me? I was on that new-desk - helping out- I know what I'm talking about and also remember it pretty well because it became a joke of the week at our story conferences when I still was working for ABS-CBN.
Anyhow - onto the news of the Day I started to write about;
" The Armed Forces of the Philippines is prepared to fend off efforts by disgruntled soldiers planning fresh efforts to destabilize the administration, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said on Friday -Bunye said in a news briefing that threats made by a member of the Makabayang Kawal Pilipino (MKP), allegedly behind the February 24 plot to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was nothing new as it had been uncovered by authorities before.
If I hadn't fallen asleep waiting up for Probe Team I could have written something on that earlier!
"With their plans uncovered, we believe authorities have sufficient contingency preparations in case they go ahead with these plans," Bunye went on to say -
In a earlier television interview, ( c'mon say it- On the Probe team) First Lieutenant Sonny Sarmiento, an escaped mutineer, warned that they would "make their presence felt in the coming days." He also warned "disgruntled soldiers were open to negotiations with leftist groups and were eyeing fugitive and former senator Gregorio Honasan to be a member of a transition council that would replace Arroyo."
With Quotes and Inputs from
(amazing how they often break stories faster than AFP, AP, and, Reuters on
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