Soldiers in failed uprising claim moral victory MANILA - Disgruntled rebel Philippine troops claimed a moral victory yesterday despite being forced to return dejected to barracks after their failed military uprising in central Manila.
The young, battle-tested and idealistic military officers and enlisted men reluctantly agreed to end their 22-hour siege and be court-martialled after the authorities agreed to consider demands for a probe into allegations of military and government corruption.
'We were ready to die but gave up for the sake of our comrades in the military and the interest of the people and country,' said Navy officer Antonio Trillanes, 31, the self-styled group leader.
'We have already planted the seeds, we will just have to bite the bullet and roll with the punches. Hopefully, we have inspired others - that is our significant contribution to the country.'
He and his 300-odd men ended their occupation of an upmarket apartment and shopping complex in the Makati financial centre after intense negotiations with government, opposition and military officials.
In the end, sources close to the negotiations said, the key figures of the mutiny - whose average age was 27 years - were largely influenced by colleagues from their alma mater, the Philippine Military Academy, where they belonged to a class renowned for its brilliance and idealism.
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff General Narciso Abaya agreed he would create a special panel to study the officers' complaints.
But
Lieutenant Trillanes, who had spoken to President Gloria Arroyo about his grievances before the revolt, sounded dejected in a television interview.
'This country has no moral resolve to reform. These reforms will not come in my lifetime.'
He had documented irregularities in the military in a controversial thesis he submitted for a master's degree at the University of the Philippines last year.
The rebel leader who topped his class at the military academy said he would quit soldiery and teach.
But local pundits suggested he should follow Senator Gregorio Honasan's career path.
Briefly jailed in the late 1980s for leading a series of deadly coup attempts against then president Corazon Aquino, cashiered army colonel 'Gringo' Honasan won a presidential pardon in 1993, was elected to the Senate, and is now running for president.
Eugene Gonzalez, another rebel military officer, said the revolt was a reminder to the country's leaders to 'serve with sincerity', adding his group was prepared to face the music for its action.
Hailing from elite military units, the mutineers identified themselves as 'the Magdalo group', a name similar to one used by a Filipino revolutionary who fought Spanish colonial rule in the 19th century.
The group had accused their military leadership of selling arms to rebels from the country's biggest separatist Muslim group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the communist guerilla force the New People's Army, and the notorious Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group.
The mutineers, who colleagues say also hold a sterling combat record, said they had come across ammunition from captured rebel camps with Department of National Defence markings.
'These bullets are the same ones killing our fellow soldiers in the field,' complained Captain Gerardo Gambala, another core leader of the siege.
The mutineers also accused Defence Secretary Angelo Reyes and a military intelligence chief of 'masterminding' bombings against civilians in the south in a bid to declare the MILF a terrorist group and get more US funding for the anti-terror campaign.
And they accused the military leadership of planning bombings in Manila in a bid to extend Mrs Arroyo's stay in power through martial law.
Capt Gambala said the blasts would be blamed on other groups, citing the recent escape of Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi as 'essential to this operation'. -- AFP
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