“The real threat.” Militants say the government is raising the bogey of destabilization to lay the ground for a crackdown on dissent. In a press conference in Quezon City, the militants said the protest actions they will mount on Jan. 22, coinciding with the anniversary of the 1987 Mendiola massacre, are meant to highlight the call for justice for victims of state terrorism and for land to the tiller.
‘Destab’ real but not
serious, says AFP
‘Nothing we can’t handle’
BY VICTOR REYES
and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
THE Armed Forces yesterday maintained
the threat against government is real, denying a
statement of Sen. Rodolfo Biazon that destabilization
plots are being floated to justify an extension of the
tour of duty of AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon.
"The threat is there but it’s not
that serious. It’s nothing that we can’t handle," said
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, chief of the Armed Forces
public information office.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita
said anti-Arroyo forces continue with their
destabilization activities but the threat now is "not at
the level where we feel there should be extra measures
to be taken."
PNP to ‘force out’ media
men ignoring orders to leave
BY RAYMOND AFRICA
THE PNP yesterday said it would eject media men from areas
of police or military operations if they continued to
ignore appeals to leave.
At the weekly Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis
media forum, Senior Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, PNP
spokesman, said it is similar to that used in calamity
situations where people are requested to leave their homes
and move to safer areas, and "forced" out if necessary.
Director Silverio Alarcio Jr., chief of
the PNP directorate for operations, said in past
incidents, like the Manila Peninsula standoff last
November 29, there should have been no conflict between
the police and media because both camps were only doing
their jobs.
JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday said he wants to
determine if a subsidiary of Ayala Land Inc., owner of the
Glorietta malls in Makati, has some criminal or administrative
liability for the explosion at the Glorietta 2 in October last
year.
He said documents submitted by a multi-agency
investigation task force that investigated the blast indicated
that Ayala Property Management Corp. (APMC) has direct
supervision over the Glorietta complex.
"As far as I am concerned, they are not yet
off the hook. As far as juridical authority is concerned, the
officers should be included. This is the corporation that
supervises the complex; they are the ones who hire the agencies
which clean the place, maintain the facilities, and see to it
that the facilities are properly kept and functioning properly
and that the operation will not endanger life and limb," he
said.
