MISCEPY

Coup accusation ‘stupid- Adaza

By ANGELO GUTIERREZ

Former assemblyman and lawyer Homobono Adaza has started to turn the table on a compañero, Raymund Fortun, who accused him of planning a coup with four former military officials.

At a press conference in Sulu Hotel on Wednesday, Adaza said it was Fortun who first mentioned a coup plan to him during a meeting sometime June.

"It was the lawyer whose name is unworthy of mention who whispered to me, since I was sitting by his side at dinner, that there was an ongoing plan to pull a coup by known personalities with active officers in the military," Adaza, who has been a lawyer for several critics of the Arroyo administration, said.

He said he thought Fortun's mention of the coup plan was a joke, "but when he asked me how much I thought it would cost to pull a coup, I thought he was serious."

Adaza quoted Fortun as saying, "Pañero I was informed that it takes four million to pull a coup, what do you think?"

The former assemblyman said Fortun was clearly lying when he told media and the police that he tried to extort $4 million from a Japanese client, a certain Motonori Sakuma.

He also denied meeting with the Japanese, as claimed by Fortun.

Adaza alleged that according to Col. Oscarlito Mapalo, one of the four former military officers who was arrested with him last July 2 in Mandaluyong City, it was Fortun who wanted Sakuma's two Filipino associates murdered.

The lawyer said Fortun "engaged" Mapalo's security service firm, the OMT Security Services, Inc., to plan the murder of Sakuma's associates, Manuel Copon and Emmanuel Galdo.

Copon is president while Galdo is vice president of the Island Country Resorts, Inc., where Sakuma is an investor.

Adaza said Mapalo refused to grant Fortun's request. "But there is no crime in planning a murder. Merely planning or inducing a murder is not a crime," Adaza said quoting Fortun as narrated by Mapalo.

Adaza said he has no immediate plans of filing counter charges against Fortun, but "surely there will be charges filed" not only against his lawyer accuser, but also against the police, including National Police chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr., and the officials of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

The former assemblyman also clarified that only two cases have been filed against him in court, one was the "proposal to commit a coup" before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 93 and another, an obstruction of justice case with the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 33.

He said an extortion complaint has been filed against him before the Department of Justice, which he said would be dismissed because the complainant was Asher Dolina, an official of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Adaza mentioned that instead of the Holiday Inn Hotel near the Robinson's Galleria mall in Mandaluyong City , the police mistakenly wrote in its affidavit that his arrest was made in Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Invitation to form revolutionary government
Adaza said one of the possible reasons for his arrest and the sudden coup allegation against him may be connected with his suggestion for the "organization of a revolutionary government."
The Alliance for Democratic Action , led by Adaza, came up with a pamphlet titled "Our Core Agenda" which was sent last May to heads of government, including the Office of the President, and leaders of the political opposition.

The pamphlet was an invitation for a "dialogue for change" instead of holding another senatorial and presidential election in 2010.

"We must reason together if we are to survive as a people," the invitation said. To survive, the group urged political leaders to "stop this insane preoccupation with the 2010 elections" and consider forming a "revolutionary government."

Adaza said the invitations were still unanswered, even by the political opposition.

"My message to the opposition is to sit down together and decide who is your leader. Other than the leader, create a program," he said.

Link to Adazas core agenda

'Fortun's failure'
Another reason behind the filing of cases against him, Adaza said, is Fortun's alleged failure to satisfy what his Japanese client wants.
Adaza said the Japanese client wanted their company's inter-island resort opened by May, with his full control. He said Fortun failed to do this.

"Fortun could not produce results to impress his Japanese client," he said.

Adaza said Fortun's accusations against him are "stupid" because it would be impossible for a lawyer like him and four ex-military officials to mount a coup against the Arroyo administration.

He added that the police, who had been claiming they have evidence against Adaza, should study the coup d'etat history of the Philippines .

He said not even Sen. Gregorio Honasan, with his band of young rebel soldiers from almost all the units of the military, was able to successfully take over the government through armed rebellion.

Adaza was referring to the several tries of Honasan to oust former President Corazon Aquino through coup d'etat. At least seven rebellions were launched, but Honasan's group failed.

No longer silent
Adaza, who openly fought the administrations of former presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada, said he had decided to retire from "fighting the battles of this country" thinking that younger ideologists would replace his vocal opposition against a corrupt administration.
"I did not choose this fight. I have been silent all these years," he said.

The former assemblyman, who was incidentally wearing red during the press conference, said he is again ready to go back to the arena of political debates and question the competency of the government.

"I have decided to be silent, but now they want me to raise issues and fight for the Filipino people," he said.