Oakwood Mutiny - Discovery & Pre-Emption of The Plot

Discovery & Pre-Emption of The Plot

From July 21 to 23, unauthorized troop movements apparently bound for Manila had been monitored upon validation of the information that there was restiveness among junior AFP officers.

Having validated the coup rumors and considering the troop movements, the Government took a number of pre-emptive measures. It was fortuitous that these rumors and troop movements materialized just prior to the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) scheduled for delivery on July 28. In connection with the SONA, the Government was already taking measures to ensure the security of the President and the Government. On July 10, the National Security Council (NSC) had requested the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) to host a “ small group” meeting of the Special Monitoring Committee Alpha (SMC Alpha), which was organized to ensure security during the SONA, together with the major service intelligence chiefs of the AFP and counter-intelligence specialists.

SMC Alpha is composed of representatives from various intelligence bodies, and is mandated to monitor domestic threats, particularly destabilization plots against the Government, and to recommend appropriate counterintelligence measures. Its task is to prevent mass mobilizations from turning into a situation similar to the attempted siege of Malacañang Palace on May 1, 2001 by the supporters of former President Joseph Estrada.

At the SMC Alpha meeting held on July 11, the details of the recruitment by the Magdalo group were discussed and those involved were identified. On the same day, NICA Director General Cesar Garcia reported to National Security Adviser Roilo Golez on the ongoing recruitment activities in the AFP by certain junior officers. Subsequently, SMC Alpha submitted a report from various intelligence sources that the plot being watched involved plans to temporarily reinstate deposed President Estrada.

On July 12, the intelligence group informed the President about persistent reports of rebel recruitment activities in the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP), particularly in Mindanao, Central Luzon, and Metro Manila. The Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (J2), MGen. Pedro Cabuay, presented a summary of what was taken up at NICA the previous day. Considering its highly sensitive nature, the information was kept within a small group. Apart from the top officers of the AFP and the PNP, only a small number of Cabinet members attended. Recruitment efforts were noted to be most intense in the First Scout Rangers and Special Forces Regiment of the Special Operations Command, the Philippine Navy (SWAG), Fort Bonifacio Units, the Philippine Army’s Light Armor Brigade (LABDE) and the Anti-Crime Task Force (ACTAF). Most of those who were approached were junior officers from the PMA ’95 up to ’99. Considering the situation as having developed into a crisis, the President immediately designated Golez as crisis manager. An action plan was approved which consisted of pre-emptive measures employing persuasion efforts on the one hand, and cracking down on the suspected plotters should they commit any overt illegal acts, on the other.

Recruitment activities by suspected rebels were again reported during the July 14 meeting of the Cabinet Oversight Committee – Internal Security (COC-IS). The meeting discussed threats to SONA and the concomitant security preparations. At this time, the Government had not yet established concrete links between the recruitment of military officers as rebels and the anti-government mass actions mobilized for the SONA. In the meeting of SMC Alpha on July 15, the recruitment had been reported as led by a covert fraternity called the “New Filipino Heroes” who were advocating the adoption of the NRP of Honasan. Plans of the groups to rescue and release ex-President Estrada from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) and to take over radio and TV stations were likewise revealed. Another meeting by the SMC Alpha took place on July 18 to ensure that the action plans agreed upon were already in place and being implemented.

Having received reports about the troop movements, PNP Chief, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. issued a directive to all field commanders to coordinate with AFP units and investigate any unauthorized movements and other groupings. He also ordered all PNP personnel to be accounted for, and declared a full alert status for the PNP National Headquarters in Camp Crame, effective 6:00 pm on July 22, 2003. There was also an order to reinforce the guards at Camp Crame.

It further appears that the intelligence community had been receiving reports that Honasan had been holding sessions with the members of the Magdalo group in Metro Manila and Sangley Point, Cavite. Information on these sessions was shared during the preparation for the President’ s SONA. At the meeting on July 23, the SMC Alpha discussed plans on how to counter the likely staging of mass actions by anti-government groups at the Batasang Pambansa Complex during the SONA. At this meeting, the efforts at recruitment of junior officers in the AFP and the PNP in Mindanao were reported. The February 11 Memorandum of Instructions to the DND Secretary purportedly issued by the President and the “Oplan Greenbase” attributed to Ermita were reported to have been disseminated to bolster the recruitment effort.

Troop movements actually occurred two days before the Oakwood incident. Some forty-seven (47) marines, carrying firearms were sighted coming from Ternate, Cavite. In the early morning of July 25, 28 Scout Ranger personnel boarded a Cebu Pacific flight for Manila and were monitored to have proceeded to Virramall Shopping Center in Greenhills, San Juan. On the same day several Scout Rangers were also reported surveying the Makati business district. Moreover, a group of Scout Rangers and members of the Philippine Marines boarded Superferry 2 from Zamboanga City for Manila via Iloilo City. The troop movement was being monitored and it was decided that the soldiers be met once they arrive in North Harbor. Upon their arrival, they were in fact met by some officers, including Col. Danilo Lim of the First Scout Ranger Regiment (FSRR), and were found to have apparently legitimate reasons for coming to Manila. They carried documents showing either they were on rest and recreation or about to undergo training. Despite the coup rumors, Government security forces refrained from taking punitive action against the junior officers at that time as nothing overtly illegal had been committed. Some of them came in BDA uniforms and carried arms and ammunition. Some of them ended up in Oakwood.

Before the Oakwood incident, amid the coup rumors, the President met with officers and men, including Trillanes and some members of PMA ’94 and ’95. On July 10, Navy Lt. Christopher Magdangal, an Aide-de-Camp to the President and a member of PMA ’95, called his classmate Trillanes to ask him about the veracity of reports that the latter was a leader of a rebel group moving to destabilize the Government. Trillanes said he was surprised to hear such report and later confided to Magdangal, after several exchanges of text and cellular phone messages, that he was in fact receiving death threats over the phone. Trillanes then asked Magdangal if he could see the President in Malacañang on July 13 to clarify the issue with her.

Trillanes, who would later act as spokesman of the Magdalo group, met with two members of the PSG, Col. Delfin Bangit and Magdangal in the early morning of July 13. They talked for nearly four hours from 3:00 am onwards. The two officers were present when Trillanes met with the President at 7:00 am of the same day. During the meeting with President Arroyo, Trillanes brought up the problem of corruption as discussed in the two term papers which he submitted for his masters program at the University of the Philippines’ National College of Public Administration and Governance. He later alleged that the President did not give him a chance to discuss the papers and instead scolded him. The President allegedly ordered the PSG officers to parade him before the media to give him a lesson and called the Flag Officer-in-Command (FOIC), Vice Admiral Ernesto de Leon, to detain him at the Naval Intelligence and Security Force (NISF) in Fort Bonifacio. In this connection, Magdangal, testified that, to the contrary, the conversation between the President and Trillanes was cordial. The President’s parting shot was “Trillanes, you are a young, very bright and very idealistic officer. Huwag mong gayahin si Honasan at si Cardeño.” The meeting lasted for about an hour.

In the evening of July 23, 2003, about one hundred (100) members of PMA ’94 and ’95 had dinner and a “ photo opportunity” with the President in Malacañang Palace. A few days before the dinner, Chief of Staff, AFP (CSAFP) General Narciso Abaya held separate meetings with the officers of the two classes. He was informed of their sentiments, particularly that they were being unjustly dragged into the alleged plan for a rebellion. Through the efforts of their classmates in the PSG and Abaya, the dinner with the President took place. Members of PMA ‘94 and ’95 were invited to the occasion for “pure socializing” through text messages that originated from Magdangal. The class officers, expecting to have a “ dialogue” with the President that night regarding the issues in the AFP that they would like to raise, got frustrated as all Air Force Capt. Segundino Orfiano was able to say after the dinner, when the President briefly asked about the coup issue, was “…we are against corruption." Likewise, based on the remarks made on television immediately after the dinner, PMA ‘94 class president Army Capt. Ma. Noel Tolentino said, “we assured her that we are still… we are loyal to her”.

The President also attended on July 24 the turn-over of the command at the FSRR in Camp Tecson in San Miguel, Bulacan, Bulacan as part of the effort to neutralize the coup threat. The President took this opportunity to visit with the members of the FSRR, which at that time was reported to have been significantly infiltrated by suspected rebels. She also visited on July 25 the Marine Training Camp in Ternate, Cavite, Cavite, the PAF 15th Strike Wing, and the SWAG in Sangley Point, Cavite. Abaya made rounds of other units where restiveness had been reported.

In the early morning of July 26, the 10 suspected leaders declared unaccounted for by the AFP were identified as Trillanes, Layug, Gambala, Maestrecampo, and Army officers Capt. Lawrence Louis Somera, Capt. Albert Baloloy, 1st Lt. Lawrence San Juan, 1st Lt. Florentino Somera, 1st Lt. Jose Enrico Demetrio Dingle, and 1st Lt. Waren Lee Dagupon. At 5:00 am, emergency meetings were held by Abaya, Golez, and Garcia with the general staff and senior officers to discuss the reports on the missing officers and the reported destabilization plot.

At around 10:00 am, President Arroyo and Corpuz met with a group of NGOs at the EDSA Shrine. Corpuz announced that certain units from Tanay were missing.

At 2:00 pm, a meeting was held by the same group with House Speaker Jose de Venecia and the House Committee Chairman for Defense and Security, Prospero Pichay, to discuss the matter.

At 5:00 pm of July 26, 2003, the President convened a full cabinet meeting where Cabuay presented a briefing on the looming coup plot. Thereafter, the President publicly announced for the first time at 8:19 pm in the media that “a small band of rogue junior officers and soldiers had deserted their posts and illegally brought weapons with them.” The security plan of action was immediately set in motion. Task Force Libra (TF Libra), the counter-coup composite unit of the AFP, was set in motion. The action forces were immediately dispatched in anticipation of the rumored coup.

A week earlier, a meeting of the leaders of “anti-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo” (PGMA) groups allegedly to discuss pre-SONA activities at the Danarra Hotel in Quezon City was monitored by Government intelligence. On July 25, 2003, intelligence reports were received that some so-called “anti-PGMA” groups like the People’s Movement Against Poverty (PMAP) and DEMOKRASYA had been instructed to assemble at the EDSA Shrine at 4:00 pm on July 27 and hold an overnight vigil there before proceeding to the Batasan area to hold anti-government rallies during the SONA. Invitations by the “ anti-PGMA” group members to civilians to join the coup to be staged on July 27 were made through cellphone text messages. Among those who were recruited were past and present members of the DIABLO and Philippine Guardians Brotherhood, Inc. (PGBI” ). Police Chief Inspector Leborio Jangao, one of the founding members of PGBI, stated he received cellphone text messages on July 26 informing him that a coup d’etat would be staged on July 27. At this time the crime disturbance personnel of the PNP had already been instructed to secure the EDSA Shrine, the Connecticut Street area, and the Ortigas Avenue Extension area from rallyists. There were reports the EDSA Shrine would be the target where another EDSA 2 or EDSA 3 would be staged.

Early on Friday night of July 25, the 80th Infantry Battalion based in Camp Capinpin was ordered to augment TF Libra. The mission of the TF Libra included the securing of vital communications installations such as radio and TV stations. It assisted the PNP in securing the EDSA Shrine and containing civilian groups in the area. The first elements of the joint TF Libra arrived in Camp Aguinaldo at about 11:00 pm

For his part, Ebdane declared a full alert status nationwide, effective 12 noon on July 26, as a contingency measure. All PNP field commanders were directed to secure vital installations and key establishments.

At around 2:00 pm of July 26, the Mandaluyong City police started the deployment of at least one hundred forty (140) personnel at the Poveda, Connecticut, and Ortigas areas. Later at 3:00 pm, intelligence reports indicated a change of instructions to the rallyists manning the EDSA Shrine. The anti-government groups were advised to assemble at the EDSA Shrine at 6:00 am on July 27 instead.

At about 7:00 pm of July 26, MGen. Efren L. Abu, Vice Commander PA and Commander of TF Libra, visited the 80th Infantry Battalion. By this time, TF Libra was already at its full strength. An hour later, President Arroyo went on air and ordered the arrest of the junior officers who had deserted their posts. A conference presided over by Abaya was held at about 9:00 pm to assess the intelligence situation. Abu gave an update on the forces composition of TF Libra.

The PNP report on troop movement by Marines from Ternate, Cavite to the North or to Manila was confirmed by Cavite PNP Provincial Director Police Senior Superintendent Roberto L. Rosales and Marine Commandant, MGen. Emmanuel Teodosio. The advancing Marines were able to avoid checkpoints on their way to Makati by evasive movements. The PAF civil disturbance contingent earlier deployed at the Batasan area and the PN contingent at the VMMC, both in Quezon City, were then redeployed to the Makati area. An additional one hundred (100) Special Action Force (SAF) personnel of the PNP were then sent to secure the Batasan complex. In addition, one (1) PA platoon and a PNP contingent reinforced the security forces of TV stations and telecommunications facilities.

Also on July 26, Naval Base personnel in Cavite received a report that three suspicious-looking vehicles were parked at the back of the Naval Sea Systems Command Armory in Fort San Felipe, Cavite City.

Following the order issued by President Arroyo to the AFP and PNP for the arrest of the Magdalo officers at around 8 pm and the conference called by Abaya to assess the intelligence reports at 9 pm, operatives of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detention Group (CIDG) were dispatched to Dasmariñas Village, Makati City at around 10:00 pm that same night of July 26 to verify the presence of heavily armed men in military uniform reported by security guards of the Dasmariñas Village. National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents were also dispatched to monitor this development.