Coup suspects take over hotel in Philippines

At least one dissident soldier, distinguishable by a red armband, crouched inside the hotel lobby, his finger near the trigger of an M-16 rifle. Many journalists refused a request from the president’s spokesman that they leave and soaked tablecloths in water in case tear gas was used.

Joined by other dissident officers and leaders from the opposition and the left, the coup defendants clearly were trying to foster the Philippines’ third “people power” revolt, making phone calls and sending text messages seeking to generate crowds to support them.

However, as the day wore on and hotel guests were evacuated, few people turned out for the latest effort to oust Arroyo, who has survived at least three coup plots and three impeachment efforts during nearly seven tumultuous years in power.

Manila Police Chief Geary Barias told the dissidents to vacate the hotel by 3pm or face arrest on new warrants for contempt of court.

The deadline passed with the officers refusing to leave and posting uniformed troops to guard stairways leading to the second floor of the hotel where the dissidents set up a command centre in a function room. Estimates of the dissidents’ strength ranged from at least a dozen men up to as many as 30.

“One thing I can assure you is we have more than enough willpower, fighting spirit to bring this government down,” said Antonio Trillanes, one of the officers on trial who was elected to the Senate in May, campaigning from detention. “We want change.”

The trial is over a 2003 insurrection in which troops commandeered a shopping centre and demanded the removal of Arroyo.

It was unclear where the rest of the military’s loyalties lay.

“My orders now are to rearrest them and take them back to custody, to apply the law,” said Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.

“We want to assure our people that we will apply the full force of the law to maintain peace and order in the area and the rest of the country.”

Arroyo called an emergency Cabinet meeting. The Presidential Security Group, which provides security at the presidential palace, went on red alert.

Escorted by military police, who apparently did not prevent them from leaving the court, the defendants marched to the Peninsula hotel and pushed away guards at the entrance.

They were joined by Brig Gen Danilo Lim – suspected of involvement in another failed coup plot last year – who issued a statement urging Arroyo to resign and asking the armed forces to withdraw support for her.

In the statement, read on nationwide TV, Lim called for the formation of a new government.

“Mrs Arroyo stole the presidency from Estrada, and later manipulated the results of 2004 elections,” Lim said.

Arroyo took over the presidency when predecessor Joseph Estrada was removed in the second “people power” revolt in January 2001, and opponents have criticised the legitimacy of her rule ever since. She also has been fighting allegations that she rigged the 2004 elections that gave her a six-year term.

“We tried to restore legitimacy, but she used naked power ... to frustrate us,” Lim said. “We should use all we can to prevent the sliding back into corruption. We are withdrawing support from this government and other units will also do so.”

Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, left-wing leaders and two Roman Catholic bishops joined the military men at the hotel.

“This is like EDSA,” Guingona, an opposition campaigner, said after using a glass of water to toast a victory by anti-Arroyo forces. EDSA is the name of the road that was the site of the country’s two “people power” revolts.

“We have to bring people here to guard our perimeters,” Trillanes told them.

The officers on trial were among 300 soldiers who took over the ritzy Oakwood hotel and a nearby shopping centre in Makati in July 2003, rigging the area with bombs and demanding Arroyo’s resignation. They denounced the government and military corruption, but were accused of staging a failed coup. They surrendered after the day-long uprising.