Blow by blow – 3 days of drama
compiled by ZAMBOANGA SOUTHWALL

February 24:

* THOUSANDS of protesters from militant and pro-opposition groups were set to march to the People Power Monument along the EDSA highway in Quezon City, the Liwasang Bonifacio in downtown Manila, and Ayala Avenue in the Makati City financial district to press for Arroyos' ouster as they commemorated the 20th anniversary of the 1986 People Power uprising, but police prevented them;

* EARLIER, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Generoso Senga relieved two top military officers for their alleged involvement in a coup. The two were Army Brigadier General Danny Lim of the First Scout Ranger Regiment and Colonel Ariel Querubin of the Marine Brigade. A chief of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force, Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr. was also relieved from his post;

* POLICE have come to fetch former president Joseph Estrada from a suburban hospital with orders to return him immediately to his rest house in Tanay town outside Manila. The orders came amidst heightened security activity in the wake of military coup rumors. Senator Jinggoy Estrada said that his father could not yet leave the San Juan Medical Center because the former president was scheduled to have an eye operation in the evening;

* THE FORMER president has refused to leave the San Juan Medical Center despite orders by Philippine National Police chief Director General Arturo Lomibao for him to return to his detention at his rest house in Tanay, Rizal. Hundreds of followers of deposed president rallied around a hospital where he is confined. But they started to disperse after the police assured them that the ousted leader would stay at the hospital;

* PRESIDENT ARROYO placed the country under a state of national emergency. Malacañang said 8 to 10 civilians and military officers would be arrested in connection with the alleged coup. Philippine National Police Chief Arturo Lomibao explained that the restiveness in the military had reached a level so alarming that a declaration of a state of emergency was needed;

* MILITANT GROUPS defied a police order to stay away from the People Power Monument in Ortigas and managed to converge at the site to hold their rally in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the first popular revolt and to demand the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo;

* THE PROTESTERS, led by Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño and Anakpawis Representative Rafael Mariano, carried flags and streamers and chanted “Oust Gloria.” The “Gloria Step Down Movement,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno, and Migrante were among the groups represented at the People Power Monument;

* BAYAN MUNA Representative Satur Ocampo, Gabriela Women’s Party List Rep. Liza Maza, and Anak Pawis Rep. Crispin Beltran and other militant group leaders attended a mass by Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Yniguez inside the EDSA Shrine nearby;

* ANTI-ARROYO rallyists and police clashed at the People Power Monument in Ortigas after protesters refused to leave the site following President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's declaration of a state of emergency. The demonstrators threw rocks, prompting the anti-riot cops to retaliate with water cannons to disperse the crowd that had swelled to between 5,000 and 8,000;

* FORMER VICE president Teofisto Guingona negotiated with police officials to allow the demonstrators to stay;

* THE PROTESTERS proceeded to La Salle, Greenhills. Almost half of the crowd ran away during the dispersal although the others, including militant leaders, stayed in front of the EDSA Shrine and a makeshift stage;

* THE ARRIVAL of anti-riot police earlier in the day disrupted the program of the protesters who were carrying the Philippine flag and streamers and chanting “People Power” repeatedly as they faced police;

* UNIVERSITY of the Philippines Professor Randy David, who is also columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Lawyer Argee Gueverra and Akbayan president Ronald Llamas were arrested during anti-Arroyo march on EDSA and Santolan in Quezon City, but police released them in the evening, hours after they were investigated. Police filed inciting to sedition charges against them before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office, but the prosecutor, during inquest, recommended that the case be investigated further;

* POLICE dispersed ANTI-ARROYO forces at the People Power Monument in Ortigas who were marching towards Ayala in Makati City to join other rallyists for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of EDSA 1. Before going to Makati, the protesters went to La Salle, Greenhills and were supposed to meet with other militant groups such as the Laban ng Masang Pilipino (Fight of the Filipino Masses] in Santolan. ANTI-riot police along Ayala in Makati City blocked thousands of protesters who marched from the People Power Monument in Ortigas;

* POLICE dispersed anti-Arroyo protesters who gathered on Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas in the financial district of Makati City, where FORMER president Corazon Aquino and other leaders of the opposition and militant groups led a rally calling President Arroyo to make a supreme sacrifice by resigning from her post. Hundreds of police, wielding truncheons and shields, pushed the protesters toward Edsa;

February 25:

* ARMED and uniformed policemen swooped down on The Daily Tribune newspaper offices at 12:45 a.m. and raided the offices, without a search warrant, then ordering the padlocking of the offices and then having at least three policemen guarding the area, claiming they were doing so to “ensure that nothing gets lost. PNP Chief Lomibao, told the media that the Tribune has been taken over temporarily and that the administration is mulling the supervision of the editorial content of the paper since the Tribune may be conspiring with the opposition to bring down the regime of President Arroyo;

* THE NATIONAL Union of Journalists of the Philippines called on members of the Fourth Estate to make a stand, saying that the recent developments, including the raid of the Daily Tribune newspaper office, the deployment of troops to "watch" over broadcast stations ABS-CBN and GMA-7, and the threat implied against news organizations in the February 24 proclamation declaring a state of national emergency, all indicate that the Arroyo government is seeking to intimidate print and broadcast facilities and journalists, and scare them from covering and exposing all the angles of the present crisis;

* GEN. RAMON Montaño, former Constabulary chief, was "arrested" by the police in Cavite and was taken to Camp Crame for questioning. Montaño served as chief of the Philippine Constabulary under the Aquino administration. Under Ramos, Montaño was appointed Presidential adviser on police matters. Former PNP Police Gen. Rex Piad was also taken in for questioning. Piad belongs to the Matatag Class of 1971 and was classmates with Sen. Panfilo Lacson and former senator Gringo Honasan. Piad was the former director of the Office of the Directorate for Intelligence and Detective Management of the PNP;

* A TEAM of police operatives in Bulacan arrested ANAKPAWIS party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran. He and his family were aboard a car, on their way to a subdivision in San Jose del Monte, when a team of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) aboard two vans apprehended them. They arrested Beltran with a warrant for a 1985 case for inciting to rebellion. No bail was recommended in that warrant;

* FORMER PRESIDENT Fidel Ramos called Proclamation No. 1017 as an overkill reaction to the threats being faced by Malacañang. Ramos said he was surprised, appalled, dismayed about the proclamation. The former president hinted at withdrawing his support to President Arroyo, saying the declaration of a state of national emergency dampened the celebration of the people-backed military mutiny that ousted former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986;

* THE GOVERNMENT filed coup d’etat charges against former Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, who admitted involvement in three coups against various governments since Cory Aquino’s presidency but denied involvement in the failed mutiny of junior military officers at the Oakwood Hotel in Makati in July 2003.

February 26:

* THE COMMANDANT of the Philippine Marine Corps, Major General Renato Miranda, was relieved from his post. Reports said Miranda personally asked for his relief during a meeting with his immediate superior, Navy Chief Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga, at Navy Headquarters along Roxas Boulevard in Manila.Miranda's deputy, Brigadier General Nelson Allaga, took over his post in an acting capacity during turnover rites;

* MARINES COLONEL Ariel Querubin called for “people power” to protest the relief of Miranda. Querubin, commander of a Marine brigade based in Lanao del Sur, said his act was not a withdrawal of support from the chain of command but to show solidarity to Major General Miranda. He said he would be staying at the Chapel of the Marines Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio. He also called on the public to come to Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio to protect them from aggression;

* MALACAÑANG said that Marines Colonel Querubin would be taken into custody. The Palace statement said that Philippine Marines Corps commandant Major General Miranda had asked to be relieved and that there were no authorized troop movements and all other statements to the contrary were disinformation being circulated by San Juan City Mayor JV Ejercito, son of ousted President Estrada. The mayor denied the accusation and said all he was doing was visiting his father at the hospital;

* NEWLY-INSTALLED Marine Commandant Brigadier General Allaga said he would take Colonel Querubin into custody. Security was beefed up at the Marine headquarters with two heavily armed Marine companies and three armored personnel carriers standing guard in front the headquarters building. Media and some 50 civilians accompanied Querubin and formed a human chain around him;

* NAVY CHIEF Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga ordered civil society and opposition leaders and members of the media to leave Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, which was gripped with tension;

* PERSONALITIES with different ideologies have turned up at the Philippine Marine headquarters to show support for the Marines who were protesting the relief of their commander. Among those who turned up were Liwayway Vinzons-Chato of the Movement for Truth and Justice, Hernan Tiu-Laurel of the Oust Gloria Coalition, Ilocos Norte Representative Imee Marcos, and actress Melissa Mendez. Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and former president Guingona also showed up;

* PRESIDENT ARROYO called security officials to a meeting to discuss the ongoing standoff at the Marines' headquarters in Fort Bonifacio. Her presidential chief of staff, Michael Defensor, assured that the Armed Forces of the Philippines was on top of the situation. He said that Proclamation 1017, which had placed the country under a state of emergency since Friday, would remain in effect due to this development;

* FORMER PRESIDENT Aquino was prevented from proceeding to Fort Bonifacio where she was planning to join a group of civilians in praying for a peaceful solution to the impasse at the Marine headquarters;

* MALACAñANG through Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced the suspension of classes in all levels in Metro Manila on Monday amid the ongoing standoff at the Marines headquarters in Fort Bonifacio;

* ACTING PHILIPPINE Marine Corps commandant Brigadier General came out of the Marine Headquarters after several hours of talks with Colonel Querubin and told media they would follow the chain of command and the Constitution. He said that the Marine Corps would not be influenced by politicians. He also said that he would be the one to exact discipline on his men. Querubin kept quiet during Allaga’s announcement;

* AFP CHIEF General Senga called on a disgruntled Marine colonel and their supporters, holed up at their headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, to stand down. Senga also took a swipe at politicians and civil society groups for allegedly exploiting the situation. He said disagreements should not be resolved by going to the media, by calling on the people, these could be solved through their grievance systems.A THOUSAND of protesters led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Nationalist Alliance, BAYAN) who gathered in Makati City voluntarily dispersed. The protest was called off after Colonel Querubin agreed to stand down.