‘Oakwood mutiny worse than Mumbai’

‘Oakwood mutiny worse than Mumbai’
By Chito A. FuentesPhilippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: December 02, 2008
TAGBILARAN CITY -- A former member of the Magdalo group, which was composed of junior officers tagged in destabilization plots against the Arroyo government, has said the Oakwood mutiny more than five years ago would have been worse than the Mumbai massacre had it succeeded.
Former captain Alvin Ebreo made this observation during a dinner fellowship hosted by the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International (FGBMFI) Tagbilaran chapter where he gave his testimony of faith on Sunday.
The FGBMFI Tagbilaran chapter invited Ebreo to share insights on his conversion while he was in prison at the event dubbed "Saving Captain Alvin."
"Imagine that there were only about a dozen people involved in Mumbai," Ebreo said in Tagalog when he came to the part where he said he was grateful the Oakwood mutiny did not succeed.
The Indian police said over 170 people died and more than 200 were wounded in the attacks in Mumbai. Militants believed linked with the international terrorist group Al Qaeda were accused of being behind the attacks.
On July 27, 2003, more than 300 young officers and soldiers occupied the Oakwood Premiere Hotel in the country's financial district of Makati.
The soldiers had claimed that the takeover was unplanned and that they just wanted to air their grievances against the government, citing graft and corruption in both the government and the military.
"It would have been more chaotic and bloody if Oakwood was not nipped in the bud," Ebreo confessed.
But during a Senate hearing on the Oakwood mutiny, Army Captain Gerardo Gambala, one of the mutiny leaders, said the mutiny was only a "protest to air the truth."
The mutineers surrendered without firing a single shot and no lives were lost during the Makati standoff.
However, the Feliciano Commission, created to look into the mutiny, maintained that the mutiny was not spontaneous as shown by the preparation of those involved such as the buying of uniforms and communications equipment, among others.
"The Commission believes that the mutiny had been planned and was not spontaneous and that it was part of a larger plan to achieve political change by military force," it noted in its report.
Ebreo, a former comptroller and disbursing officer of the Army's Special Forces, was among the disillusioned Philippine Military Academy (PMA) graduates who formed the core of the Magdalo faction.
Former Navy lieutenant, senior grade, and now Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, one the mutiny leaders, and Ebreo were classmates in the PMA's batch 1995.
Ebreo and eight others pleaded guilty to the crime of coup d'etat last March and were handed down prison sentences ranging from six to 12 years.
After spending nearly five years in jail, Ebreo was granted pardon by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last May 16.
He and the six pardoned Magdalo officers now work for the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (OPAPP) headed by former Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
Ebreo now works as the senior action officer for the Visayas of the OPAPP's social integration program.
In his testimony, Ebreo said he apologized to the President after his reflections on Romans 13: 1 where St. Paul exhorted the faithful to submit to governing authorities.