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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Erap�s Fingerprints By Antonio C. Abaya September 17, 2003 Well, not exactly his fingerprints, but the fingerprints of those around him, are all over the Magdalo mutiny and aborted coup. Chances are that his fingerprints or the fingerprints of those around him may also show if and when there is another coup attempt, which even some members of the government seem to believe is inevitable. There was that Mandaluyong townhouse which some of the Magdalo mutineers seem to have used as a safe-house just before they went to Oakwood. When police and loyal troops raided that townhouse, they found arms and ammunition as well as Magdalo flags and armbands in it. The townhouse, it turned out, belonged to Erap�s favorite concubine Laarni Enriquez, even if attempts were made to pass it off as having been sold to one of Laarni�s personal friends (who admitted in a statement that she never became the beneficial owner of the townhouse even though she had been made the paper-owner of the unit). Laarni claimed the contraband items had been planted. There was that house on Paraiso St. in Dasmarinas, Makati City, which other Magdalo mutineers also used as a safe-house before they moved to Oakwood. There police and loyal troops, in the company of media persons, found weapons and ammunition, plus more Magdalo flags and armbands. The house, it turned out, belonged to Ramon �Eki� Cardenas, one-time deputy executive secretary of Erap. Cardenas also claimed the incriminating items had been planted. There were those three vans recovered by the police near the Navy arsenal in Cavite. They had apparently been used by the Magdalo mutineers to transport some of their numbers to and from Oakwood. Two of the three vans bore Senate car stickers that had been issued to Sen. Loi Ejercito. Two of those three vans also bore North Greenhills homeowners association car stickers that had been issued to the Ejercito family, who live on Polk Street in that subdivision. Sen. Ejercito claimed those vans had been used in the 1998 presidential campaign and had since been given away to some of those who had helped in that campaign. Anyone who believes that lame excuse should also believe that the three jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11/01 had merely lost their way and ran out of fuel almost simultaneously. And then there was the attempt to recreate a People Power civilian uprising in the vicinity of the Oakwood hotel in the wee hours of July 27, with mobs-for-rent equipped with obviously previously prepared streamers converging on Ground Zero, led by Erap rabble rouser Ronald Lumbao and former Erap agrarian reform secretary Horacio �Boy� Morales (who has also become Ping Lacson�s campaign manager). The point of all this is to emphasize that the mass of circumstantial evidence point to the active involvement of the Ejercitos and the Estradas, their concubines and their flunkies, in the failed mutiny and aborted coup specifically meant to overthrow the government of President Arroyo. Add to this the alleged plan of the Magdalo mutineers to restore Joseph Estrada to power, even for only three days, long enough for him to be proclaimed still president and therefore immune from prosecution (so that the plunder case against him can be legally dismissed), after which he will be replaced with a 15-man junta, with Gringo Honasan as junta head or dictator, to rule this country as a banana republic. It is in this light that we must interpret a curious item in the September 14, 2003 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer under the headline: �Erap: No way for Guingona to be installed as president.� In it, Joseph Estrada is quoted as saying: �We would just be transferring power from an illegitimate President to an illegitimate Vice-President. Guingona is just an appointee of an illegitimate President�..Dapat ako makabalik diyan para maibalik ang political stability� According to him, the people will not accept a government headed by Guingona. �Mas magagalik ang tao.� Estrada is giving notice that only the Magdalo-Honasan plan is acceptable to him, even if it means he will be restored to power for only three days. His main concern is, one, to be sprung from jail, and two, the plunder case against him is dropped. After that, he couldn�t care less what happens to this country as he apparently plans to fly away to his favorite tacky destinations, with his families and concubines in tow, like some latter-day oriental potentate going into exile in style. Estrada also alleged that VP Guingona (�gusto nang bumaliktad�) sent political meddler Pastor �Boy� Saycon to talk to the military, an allegation denied by Guingona�s staff but is not far-fetched, considering the basic amorality of the ironically named Pastor and his gibbering flock. Saycon�s Makati-Alabang elitist COPA has been in tactical alliance with, of all people, the communists under the late Popoy Lagman, even before he was assassinated three years ago, whose militants in Sanlakas and other front organizations have been calling for the termination of the Arroyo Government under the grammatically tortured slogan �Resign, All!� Now, COPA is in tactical alliance with Joma Sison�s communists, as can be seen from the participation of Joma�s front organizations such as Bayan and KMU in Saycon�s sallies against the Arroyos� now infamous LTA Building in Makati. Saycon�s interest in a GMA downfall and a Guingona take-over, whether constitutional or extra-constitutional, remains the same: to make sure that his cousin and political prot�g� steps up to, at the very least, the vice-presidency. The communists just provide the warm bodies that the COPA elitists, unwilling to sweat in the infernal heat, do not have enough of. But, realistically speaking, the possibility of another coup attempt is at present remote and will remain so if the Arroyo Government pursues with speed and vigor its cases against the Oakwood mutineers, against Honasan as their principal godfather, and against Laarni, Eki and Loi as accessories to the mutiny and coup d�etat. And even if perhaps most people are convinced that Jose Miguel Arroyo, not Ignacio Arroyo, is Jose Pidal, the principal accuser, Sen. Panfilo Lacson (Erap�s designated successor in 2004, let no one forget), has self-destructed with his headline-grabbing duds and has lost credibility, if he had it at all in the first place. Sen. Edgardo Angara is right, to some extent. Her stumblebum enemies have made President Arroyo stronger than ever before. Another coup attempt would now be harder to mount than the last. Another failed coup would make her even stronger. The law of diminishing returns is working against Estrada, Honasan, Lacson and Saycon. Which could tempt one or some or all of them to take the ultimate plunge: assassination. ***** Because of computer problems, this article failed to reach the Philippine Free Press magazine |
| OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Erap�s Fingerprints� Without sounding like I am pontificating, I feel confident that this and many other Abaya masterpieces will be a part of the moving history of embattled Philippines to be read and admired by coming generations of Filipinos who we hope will have matured enough in wisdom and grace to help lead the country to peace prosperity and power in the Far East. ANIMO ANTONIO ABAYA/! ANIMO 'TENEO!. Tony Joaquin, [email protected] September 24, 2003 .......................................................................................... Dear Mr. Abaya, I just want to thank you for sending me your thoughts via-email. Hope to hear from you constantly. Regards, Cecile S. Abis, [email protected] September 27, 2003 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |