Two armored personnel carrier are stationed at the driveway of the Peninsula Hotel as government forces started their assault of the hotel Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007 in Manila’s financial district of Makati.
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine troops and SWAT teams stormed a five-star hotel on Thursday that dissident military officers commandeered after walking out of their coup trial and demanding that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo resign.
Soon after the incident ended with the dissidents surrendering, the government announced a midnight to 5 a.m. curfew for Manila and the surrounding area, with checkpoints set up and the military and police on red alert.
“The full force of the law will be meted out without any concession. Additional charges are being prepared to hold accountable those who committed new crimes,” Arroyo said.
The military men and their civilian sympathizers — including former Vice President Teofisto Guingona — were later led in groups to waiting police buses. It was not immediately clear if they were being arrested or taken in for questioning. Several journalists also were detained.
“For the safety of everyone, we’re going out … because we cannot live with our conscience if some of you get hurt in the crossfire,” Antonio Trillanes, a leader of the dissident officers, told reporters.
Two injured in assault
At least two people were injured during the assault of the Peninsula hotel. An armored personnel carrier, earlier used as cover by the security forces, was used to crash through the roped-shut lobby entrance.
The trial for Trillanes and his co-defendants is over a 2003 insurrection in which troops commandeered a shopping center and hotel and demanded Arroyo’s ouster.
Escorted by military police, who apparently did not prevent them from leaving the court, the defendants marched to the Peninsula hotel, pushed away guards at the entrance, and set up a command center in a second-floor function room. Armed guards were set up on stairways from the lobby.
Arroyo: No concerns about military’s loyalty
After agreeing to surrender, Trillanes said he believed other officers in the military were fed up with government corruption and won’t stay quiet.
Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA
A dissident soldier, distinguishable by his red arm band, stands guard outside the Manila Peninsula Hotel Thursday afternoon.
“I am convinced that most of them sympathize with our cause,” he said. “That’s enough for us now. Eventually it will be their turn to live up to their mandate as protectors of the people.”
Arroyo’s spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, said the president has no concerns about the loyalty of the military as a whole.
“We’re in touch with the different commands, and all of them expressed their support for the chain of command,” Bunye said.
The officers on trial were among 300 soldiers who took over the ritzy Oakwood hotel and a nearby shopping center 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 daylong uprising.
Arroyo took over the presidency when predecessor Joseph Estrada was ousted in January 2001, and opponents have criticized 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.
everytime i go to the philippines for work this is the hotel i stay in… crazyyy