At the height of the stand-off at the Manila Peninsula Hotel, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said President Arroyo called him. “She asked me how we are doing here and if she still has my support,” Duterte said. “I said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’”

BY CHERYLL D. FIEL
Davao Today
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 43, December 2-8, 2007

DAVAO CITY – At the height of the stand-off at the Manila Peninsula Hotel, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte gave President Gloria Arroyo his all out loyalty but said, in a separate interview, that he understood the exasperation of Senator Antonio Trillanes.

Duterte said the President called him at the height of the tension in Makati, where Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Brigadier General Danilo Lim called for the President to resign after walking out of the coup hearing.

“She asked me how we are doing here, and if she still has my support,” Duterte told reporters. “I said, ‘Yes Ma’am.’”

Duterte was at the Grand Men Seng Hotel, where military, police and local government officials gathered for the yearend meeting of the Regional and City Peace and Order Council when the quelled mutiny was taking place in Makati.

The police in the region declared a heightened alert after learning of the incident. “There might be some lawless elements who might take advantage of the situation,” said Philippine National Police (PNP) regional director Andres Caro.

Caro called the Makati incident a “drama” which should not affect them all.

“The police in the National Capital Region (NCR) are now attending to it. We will just continue doing our job and see to it that the region is secured from criminals and terrorists,” Caro said.

Together with personalities from civil society groups and the church, Trillanes and Lim were holed up at the Manila Peninsula Hotel after marching to the Makati streets. They got arrested later in the day.

Following calls of Trillanes and Lim to withdraw support from the President, the chief of various units of the Armed Forces of the country assured the public of the loyalties of the elements in their commands. .

The generals of the two major military commands based in Davao City and the police in the region followed suit, declaring their loyalty to President Arroyo.

Lt. General Cardozo Luna, commander of the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom), said that the 40,000 troops in the region and the elements of the navy and the air force stayed loyal to the chain of command.

“We are expressing our full support to the President, our Chief of Staff and our secretary of National Defense. I have given instructions to all my units in the area to see to it that this is being followed,” Luna said.

The EastMinCom is the unified headquarters of the Army’s 4th, 6th and 10th Divisions; the Air Force and Navy units in the provinces of Camiguin, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani.

For Commanding General Ernesto Boac of the 10th Infantry Division, also based in Davao City, there is even no need for a loyalty check among his men.

“We trust each other here in my command and we believe in the professionalism of all our soldiers in the region,” he said.

Boac said that while they did not see the incident coming, what happened in Makati did not bother them at all. He said it was just an “isolated incident” which Metro Manila authorities can resolve.

“Ask me when I’m alone,” Duterte said when pressed what he thinks of the mounting calls for the President to resign. He said he was in front of the generals and did not want to be “political” about the issue. “It’s not good for everybody, not good for them, not good for us,” Duterte said.

If not for the sight of people glued to television sets inside stores, parlors, eateries and bars, and passersby stopping along the sidewalks to watch the coup coverage on TV, it was just like any ordinary day in Davao Thursday.

Duterte, however, said he understood the exasperation of Senator Trillanes which led to the incident. “You are elected as Senator and you are imprisoned?”

“The problem is, there would be people who would get killed in the process,” Duterte said, referring to Trillanes’ move. “That’s why I plead for sobriety and understanding because if it degenerates into a violent activity, it would be difficult.”

He said for change to happen, it might be better to wait for 2010 elections, which is “just 30 months away,” he said. Davao Today/ Posted by Bulatlat

 Save as PDF