Don’t Aid Fugitive, Aquino Warns : Calls Coup Leader’s Escape Tantamount to Admitting Guilt

MANILA —  President Corazon Aquino declared Saturday that the brazen predawn jail break by dissident Philippine army Col. Gregorio (Gringo) Honasan was “tantamount to his admission of guilt” for his role in a bloody coup attempt against her government last year, and she warned that military personnel or other citizens who assist or support him “will be dealt with promptly and severely.”

Appearing on government television, Aquino read a brief statement on the escape that made no mention of the 13 navy guards who helped Honasan escape, joining him in seizing two motor-driven rubber boats used by the armed forces to beef up security around the prison ship on which Honasan was being held in Manila Bay.

All 14 remained at large, and military spokesman Oscar Florendo said that troops loyal to Aquino are following up dozens of leads in what he described as “a massive manhunt.”

The president, looking stern on television, took pains to cast the charismatic Honasan, a combat veteran who was one of the leaders in the military-civilian uprising that brought Aquino to office in 1986, as a traitor, a criminal and possibly a thief.

Comments on Timing

The timing of Honasan’s escape from the prison ship, where he had been held since his capture last Dec. 9, bore “a striking similarity” to the timing of his nearly successful coup last Aug. 28, the president said.

At the time of the abortive coup, which left at least 53 dead and hundreds wounded, Aquino asserted that the colonel was facing an internal military investigation into $100,000 worth of missing military equipment assigned to him.

This time, Aquino said, Honasan was about to be court-martialed on four charges arising from the coup attempt, which collapsed after 18 hours when the army and marines failed to join him and, instead, helped national police to crush it.

Aquino said that Honasan was to have been charged soon with multiple counts of murder, arson, sedition and “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.” She added that Honasan had been treated humanely since his capture, and she described him and his supporters as “unpatriotic and treacherous.”

Waning Support Seen

In a statement Saturday morning, Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos said he believes support for Honasan has waned in the armed forces, which were largely sympathetic to him last year when he was campaigning for internal military reforms and a firmer government policy against the nation’s growing Communist insurgency.

“Perhaps, the biggest weapon that he has now would be propaganda,” Ramos said, “to try to create a new following for himself from among the civilians, especially those that are disgruntled with the government, but also from within the armed forces.”

Aquino’s televised statement was the government’s opening salvo in what analysts here expect will be the second round in a propaganda war that Honasan was waging against government corruption and inefficiency during his three months in hiding after his August uprising failed.

Aquino stressed several times that it is a crime to aid and abet Honasan. She said she issued orders to all military commanders to severely punish any soldiers caught assisting the renegade colonel. She also stressed that her government has taken steps in the past eight months to make the reforms demanded by Honasan and the 2,000 men who joined in his revolt last year.

Acknowledge Reforms

Most officers interviewed since Honasan’s coup attempt have taken note of the reforms and congratulated Aquino for new policies that favor the armed forces.

But many of the officers say that they also credit Honasan and his failed uprising for the reforms, which include higher pay and benefits for soldiers, increased emphasis on combat in counterinsurgency operations and a decentralized military command structure.

Meanwhile, armed forces leaders were deeply concerned Saturday about the manner of Honasan’s escape, made possible because he had managed to win over a navy lieutenant and squad of naval commandos sent to guard him.

Col. Florendo, the military spokesman, said investigators believe that Honasan bribed his jailers. The government confirmed that all 13 men who joined Honasan were members of the navy’s Special Warfare Brigade, a unit patterned after the U.S. Navy’s Seal teams. The brigade is an underwater assault force that is considered among the toughest, most professional and best-trained in the Philippine armed forces.