Enrile laughs off destabilization talk Christine Avendaño Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 05, 2009
MANILA, Philippines -- Jesting over the name of the so-called “August Moon” destabilization plot as “half moon” and even “moon cake,” Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Sunday that he did not believe there was such a plot in the works.
For one, Enrile said destabilization moves would require “a lot of planning, a lot of soul searching, analysis, anticipation that you have to do, preparation if you have to prepare.”
“With the short time they have, I tell you they have not enough time to think about it,” Enrile told dzBB radio.
The Senate president became the latest official to say he was not buying the so-called plot of the Palace to install administration-friendly military and police generals to sensitive positions so that it could pursue its bid to amend the Constitution and extend the stay of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo beyond 2010.
Enrile also brushed aside statements by former military intelligence officer Vidal Doble that only the government could be behind recent bombing incidents around the country because the latter claimed he had taken part in these before.
“Who is Vidal Doble? Should we believe him just because he said he was an intelligence officer before?” he said of Doble, who had admitted to wiretapping Arroyo and ex elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the canvassing of votes for the 2004 elections.
For Enrile, Doble was a “talker” and “like a duck quacking all the time” as he asked why people should even bother with him.
Meanwhile, Senator Francis Pangilinan demanded an “in-depth investigation” on the recent bombings around the country as he condemned the recent bombing in Cotabato City that killed five people.
“We call on the government to find the culprits behind this latest bomb blast. Clearly there are anti-democratic forces at work, and we call on this government to go beyond rounding up usual suspects and get to the bottom of what appears to be a concerted effort taking place in many parts of the country to sow panic and instability,” Pangilinan said in a statement.
“We demand an in-depth investigation, and we caution the government from drawing conclusions without first securing compelling evidence,” he also said.
