August 11, 2000, ABS-CBN, Estrada orders suspension of MILF sympathizers,
August 17, 2000, ABS-CBN, Military clears names of MILF 'coddlers',
August 17, 2000, ABS-CBN, Senate body files emergency powers bill,
August 22, 2000, ABS-CBN, Alunan, Ruiz cleared on Abu Sayyaf links,
February 8, 2011, Manila Bulletin, Former Sec. Angelo Reyes commits suicide, by Francis T. Wakefield,
February 8, 2011, Inquirer, Ex-AFP chief commits suicide, police confirm, by Katherine Evangelista,
February 13, 2011, noypi.ph, Former AFP Chief Angelo Reyes Laid to Rest, by Catherine Libardo,
August 7, 2000, ABS-CBN, Estrada orders arrest of MILF supporters,
MALACAÑANG, (ABS-CBN) - President Estrada on Monday ordered the arrest of government officials and employees found to be secretly supporting the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The Chief Executive ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to go after elective and appointive government officials and employees suspected of helping the MILF with government resources.
Mr. Estrada issued the directive in a cabinet meeting opened to the media and held in the Palace's state dining room.
"I have already directed the AFP chief of staff and PNP acting director (Reynaldo Wycoco) to arrest all government officials, employees and elective officials who are sympathizing with the MILF, who are helping them with government resources, and charge them in court," the President said.
The President based his act on an intelligence report submitted by AFP chief of staff Gen. Angelo Reyes that named 50 people giving financial support, sharing government resources, and even offering refuge to MILF rebels.
Mr. Estrada, however, refused to go into details, explaining that authorities are still verifying the suspects' actual connections with the Moro secessionists.
"I think its more than, at least 50, most them are elective officials and government employees," Mr. Estrada said, " I asked them to go after every single terrorist and criminals in the country."
No one should be spared regardless of position if evidence warrants their arrest, Estrada added.
"These people should be arrested and charged, it there is proof of their involvement with the MILF, I don't care whether they are senators, congressmen, or any high official," the Chief Executive said.
Mr. Estrada said he directed the AFP to provide him a list of suspected sympathizers of the MILF.
The President has designated Secretary Alfredo Lim of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to head an investigation.
When asked what Malacañang intends to do with professors of the Mindanao State University (MSU) who serve as consultants of the MILF in the peace panel, the President said he will leave it to government prosecutors to determine what legal action could be taken against them.
The MSU, being a state university, is funded and owned by the national government.
Lim, who was present during the cabinet meeting, told reporters in a separate interview that investigators have started gathering evidence and testimonies against government officials and employees secretly supporting the MILF.
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August 11, 2000, ABS-CBN, Estrada orders suspension of MILF sympathizers,
DAVAO CITY, (ABS-CBN) - President Joseph Estrada ordered on Thursday the immediate suspension of local officials found to be supporting the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) .
"They will be suspended as long as it is proven that they are sympathizing and using government resources," the President told reporters before leaving for Cebu City.
Mr. Estrada was in Mindanao to personally oversee rehabilitation efforts in strife-town areas.
However, the President said the government will have to check first the veracity of intelligence reports before suspending the 50 government officials and politicians.
Armed Forces vice chief Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim said the military is still gathering pieces of evidence against these people.
Calimlim said compiling such proofs may be a bit difficult . "So many people came out to talk on radio and newspapers but we do not have any formal statement to link these personalities to the MILF," he said.
McCarthyism
Roco cautioned the government against "McCarthyism and fascist" tendencies in going against public official suspected of being MILF supporters.
He said the government should make sure that the campaign against suspected MILF coddlers would not degenerate into a witch-hunt reminiscent of McCarthyism during the Cold War era when suspected communists and communist supporters were harassed and persecuted.
"If the government has any evidence, then is should come out with this evidence and charge the persons concerned," Roco said.
He said that there should be presumption of good faith in the actuation of government officials , "otherwise the government will be schizophrenic."
For his part, former senator and now Bohol Rep. Ernesto Herrera (Lakas) said the government should not make hasty conclusions about such sympathizers.
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August 17, 2000, ABS-CBN, Military clears names of MILF 'coddlers',
PASAY CITY (ABS-CBN) - National security and military officials cleared on Wednesday known political clans in Mindanao, saying there are no evidence linking them to Muslim rebels, particularly the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
This developed as Malacañang disavowed having any knowledge of the controversial list of alleged MILF coddlers reportedly submitted by North Cotabato Governor Manny Piñol.
Testifying before a hearing presided by Senator Renato Cayetano of the committee on justice and human rights, Presidential Security Adviser Secretary Alexander Aguirre said that Malacañang has no knowledge of the existence of the Piñol list.
Aguirre said that what the government has is the list of alleged MILF supporters who are now being verified by the military intelligence.
"The information that we have is not sufficient for any prosecutory or legal action. It is sufficient only for purpose of finding further to verify whether there is really evidence for these particular allegations. We are still in the level of verifying these charges," Aguirre told Senate probers.
Interior Secretary Alfredo Lim echoed Aguirre's testimony that they have not seen the Piñol list.
Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, in a letter also addressed to Cayetano's committee claimed he does not have a copy of the list.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes admitted that there is no evidence that would support claims that known political clans in Mindanao like the Dimaporos, Candaos and Mutillans, have been supporting and coddling the MILF.
Reports indicated that Governors Zacaria Candao, Abdullah Dimaporo, Mahid Mutilan and Lanao del Sur Rep. Benasing Macarambon were reportedly supporters of the rebel group.
For his part Piñol, who failed to appear before the Senate hearing, instead sent Cayetano a letter affirming the existence of his list. He also promised to attend the next hearing.
Raw, unverified
While the AFP chief has yet to secure a copy of the Piñol list, Reyes said the controversial list is "raw, unverified, unconfirmed and not validated."
Nonetheless, he disclosed that the AFP intelligence unit has its own list of supposed MILF supporters. But Reyes clarified that they still "to validate the names".
On the other hand, Senator Robert Barbers, chairman of the Senate committee on public order, said the investigation into the veracity of the Piñol list was premature.
"Based on what Gen. Reyes said, I suppose there is yet no need to investigate the personalities being dragged in the issue since we do not know who the ploy to ruin the names of the officials involved," he added.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, for his part, said the lives of officials in the list of suspected MILF sympathizers who maybe innocent and whose inclusion in the list may be without basis maybe in danger if they are not immediately cleared.
August 17, 2000, ABS-CBN, Senate body files emergency powers bill,
PASAY CITY (ABS-CBN) -- Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments on Wednesday filed the committee report recommending limited emergency powers for President Estrada.
Santiago who will deliver her sponsorship speech on Monday to be immediately followed by a plenary debate, expressed hope the Senate will pass the bill before it adjourns at the end of this month.
The committee filed a substitute bill in order to eliminate objections from legal and labor circles.
Santiago said the committee version does not allow negotiated contracts, but allows simplified bidding as already by Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1594.
She said the power to sign public works contracts is not given to the President, nor to the Mindanao Coordinating Council, but remains with the Cabinet secretaries concerned.
She added the new bill does not prohibit strikes or lockouts, but merely authorizes the President to implement a labor-management agreement intended to promote peace and developments.
"The Labor Code already provides the conditions when strikes or work stoppages may be held," she said.
Santiago added the new bill no longer contains a clause prohibiting temporary restraining orders (TRO) and preliminary injunctions on government projects, because this is already provided for by PD No. 1818.
"The Supreme Court circular dated 25 June 1999 very clearly warns judges against issuance of TRO because in the judiciary, the general rule is to maintain the status quo while a case is being heard," she said.
Santiago said the President's emergency powers bill will expire when Congress adjourns in June 2001, or even earlier if Congress so decides.
Other salient features of the new bill include the following emergency powers:
- to declare tax holidays subject to such guidelines as the President may promulgate,
- to ensure credit availability to the productive sectors of the economy in Mindanao by lowering effective lending rates and reserve requirements of lending institutions.;
- to declare economic zones, after providing guidelines.
August 22, 2000, ABS-CBN, Alunan, Ruiz cleared on Abu Sayyaf links,
PASAY CITY, (ABS-CBN) - The chair of the Senate committee on national defense and security cleared on Tuesday former interior and local government secretary Rafael Alunan and former Marine commander Brig. General Guillermo Ruiz on their alleged connections to the Abu Sayyaf.
Senator Rodolfo Biazon said there was no evidence to show that Alunan and Ruiz were involved in the creation of the bandit group, as earlier suspected by Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr..
Biazon arrived at the conclusion after journalists Marites Danguilan-Vitug and Glenda Gloria, authors of the book "Under the Crescent Moon: Rebellion in Mindanao", failed to convince Senate probers that Alunan and Ruiz had something to do with the Abu Sayyaf.
Alunan was dragged into the issue after Pimentel named him in his privilege speech as among those allegedly responsible for the creation of the Abu Sayyaf, while Ruiz was among those mention in the book.
The two journalists testified in a Monday hearing that based on their interviews with Basilan residents, Ruiz had close links with the Abu Sayyaf supposedly to protect his allegedly illegal logging activities there.
The two authors said the "nasty rumor" was corroborated by a parish priest there.
But Biazon said there was no hard evidence to pin down Alunan and Ruiz, who both denied the allegations.
Alunan said it was unfair for Pimentel to drag him into the Abu Sayyaf issue based on the allegations of former Abu Sayyaf member Edwin Angeles.
He said Angeles' claim was even disputed by Fr. Bernardo Blanco, who himself was kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf.
"I can only presume that his dramatic turnaround was due to mishandling by whoever was in charge of managing him at the time that, for some dark reason, triggered him to drag me into his nether world," Alunan said.
Ruiz, on the other hand, insisted that he was even considered a nemesis of the Abu Sayyaf for the various combat operations he led against the group.
The denials prompted a humbled Pimentel to issue an apology to Ruiz and Alunan.
February 8, 2011, Manila Bulletin, Former Sec. Angelo Reyes commits suicide, by Francis T. Wakefield,
Ex-Energy Chief shoots self in front of mother's grave, dies at Quirino Hospital
February 8, 2011, 9:03am
Controversial former military chief and Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes died Tuesday morning in an apparent suicide inside the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City, police said. (Photo by MARK BALMORES)
MANILA, Philippines - Former Energy Chief Angelo Reyes was reportedly shot in the chest. Reyes was rushed to the Quirino Hospital in Quezon City and reports have it that he died at around 8:30 a.m. He was 65. He is survived by his wife and 5 children.
UPDATE: Reyes was reported to have committed suicide. According to the Eastern Police District, Reyes visited his mother's grave at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City where he shot himself on the spot.
A preliminary showed that Reyes had a bullet wound in the heart.
As per the Quirino Hospital sources, they tried to revive Reyes for 45 minutes before declaring him as expired.
SECOND UPDATE:
MANILA, Philippines - Controversial former military chief and Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes died Tuesday morning in an apparent suicide inside the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City, police said.
Supt. Alfredo M. Calamaan, Eastern Police District - District Operations and Plans Divisions chief, said the 65-year-old Reyes reportedly shot himself in the chest using a Caliber .45 pistol which pierced through his heart.
He said Reyes, who was with his two sons, an aide and driver, visiting his mother's grave at the memorial park Tuesday, was immediately taken to the Quirino Labor Memorial Hospital, where he was declared dead at about 8:32 a.m. by attending doctors.
Police Senior Supt. Francisco Soria Manalo, EPD district director, said they will still wait for the autopsy report to be provided by the Philippine National Police-Crime Laboratory regarding Reyes' death before they can make any statement about it.
He added that Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) from the EPD was still at the scene as of press time conducting an investigation.
"We are still waiting for the report. As soon as we have it, we will provide the details (surrounding his death)," Manalo told TEMPO/Manila Bulletin in an interview.
Manalo, who went to the scene together with Superintendent Romeo Magsalos, Marikina Police Office chief, said that Reyes visited his mother's grave to pay his respects to her at about 7 a.m.
According to initial investigation, the former military chief then asked his sons, his aide and bodyguard to leave him for a while. A few seconds later, a gun shot was then heard with Reyes falling to the ground with blood all over him.
According to witnesses, Reyes was holding a book on Donald Trump titled "Trump: The Art of the Deal," before allegedly committing suicide.
Reyes, it was recalled, became AFP chief of staff from 1999 to 2001. Shortly after his retirement from the military service in March 1, 2001, he was appointed as Defense Secretary by then former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Reyes, also a key figure during the People Power 2 that toppled former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada from power in January 2001, has been in the hot seat as of late due to allegations that received P50 million in “send-off” money after he retired from the AFP as claimed by retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa.
Reyes, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1966, is married to Teresita P. Reyes with whom he has five sons, Pablo, Angelito, Marc, Carlo and Judd.
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February 8, 2011, Inquirer, Ex-AFP chief commits suicide, police confirm, by Katherine Evangelista,
Agence France-Presse, INQUIRER.net
First Posted 08:53:00 02/08/2011
MANILA, Philippines?(UPDATE 6)
"Sorry."
That was the last word that former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Angelo Tomas Reyes apparently uttered as his sons and aides frantically carried him and rushed him to the hospital on Tuesday.
Doctors at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City tried to revive him for 45 minutes but failed.
Reyes, 65, who had also served as defense secretary and in other Cabinet-level posts, died from a single bullet fired into his chest, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said.
Eastern Police's District chief Superintendent Francisco Manalo said investigation showed that the gunshot wound Reyes sustained was "self-inflicted."
Ona said the wound on the left side of the chest near the heart was the cause of death. "He was dead on arrival (at hospital). They were not able to revive him,? he told reporters.
Reyes, together with his two children and a bodyguard, was visiting his mother's grave at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City Tuesday morning, Feliciano Recorba, a cemetery maintenance staff, told Radyo Inquirer.
"He asked his children and bodyguard to go ahead and wait for him in the car,? Recorba said. A few moments later, a gunshot rung out, he said.
"Sorry" was the last word Reyes uttered as his shocked children rushed to the scene and found him lying on the ground holding a gun, Recorba said.
"Ang narinig ko po na sinabi niya ay 'sorry', palagay ko po ay para sa anak [I heard him say 'sorry', perhaps to his son],' he said.
Reyes, who loved his mother very much, had told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a previous interview that he would never do anything that would besmirch the name of "my good mother."
Reyes was rushed to the Quirino Memorial Medical Center at around 7:45 a.m., hospital spokesman Dr. Fernando Lopez said.
But Lopez said the former military chief already had no blood pressure, heart beat and respiratory rate, his pupils were dilated, was not breathing and had cold, clammy skin.
A gunshot wound, one centimeter in diameter and with entry point on the left side of his chest, was seen, Lopez said, adding that attempts to revive him failed.
"After 45 minutes, we saw no improvement and Secretary Angelo Reyes was declared dead at 8:32 a.m.," Lopez said.
The family of Reyes pleaded that they be given time to grieve as they asked members of the media not to turn the incident "into a circus."
And to Reyes' critics, their message: no flowers, no visits, please.
Reyes, who earlier suffered a mild stroke before the congressional investigations on the alleged AFP financial irregularities, had said he could not take anymore the smear campaign against his name and his family.
"Not my family," he had said.
Reyes had in recent weeks made headlines after a former military budget officer accused him of siphoning off enormous amounts of money from state coffers while AFP chief of staff from 2000 to 2001.
Reyes was the military chief under then president Joseph Estrada, who was forced to stand down as the nation's leader mid-term after himself being accused of corruption.
Reyes also served as Cabinet secretary and a range of other high-profile positions during previous president Gloria Arroyo's term from 2001 to last year.
He had been secretary of the defense, environment, energy and interior ministries, as well as presidential adviser on anti-smuggling.
President Benigno Aquino III has repeatedly said Arroyo allowed corrupt officials to run rampant during her time as president. Arroyo has denied the allegations.
Reyes' former budget officer in the military, ex-lieutenant colonel George Rabusa, last week accused his then boss of receiving P50 million ($1 million) in send-off money from an illegal slush fund when he retired in 2001.
Reyes also regularly received millions of pesos in unaudited monthly allowances during his term, Rabusa told a Senate inquiry into alleged military corruption.
Reyes was among the top 10 graduates of the Philippine Military Academy Class ?66. He graduated as the class valedictorian in high school.
He went on to obtain two masteral degrees: Masters in Business Administration from Asian Institute of Management in 1973 and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1991.
He took up International Defense Management Course in Monterey, California in 1983.
In 1987, he graduated No. 1 in Trust Operations Management Course conducted by the Trust Institutes Foundation of the Philippines at the Ateneo Business School, which eventually earned him a scholarship to the Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. With reports from Cynthia Balana, Nancy Carvajal, Inquirer; Radyo Inquirer
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February 13, 2011, noypi.ph, Former AFP Chief Angelo Reyes Laid to Rest, by Catherine Libardo,
Military Officials carry the casket of Ex-AFP Chief Reyes at the final funeral march to the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Received Full Military Honors
Former Armed Forces Chief and Defense Secretary, Angelo Reyes was laid to rest at 12 noon, Sunday, at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. The Philippine flag that bedecked his casket was given to his bereaved wife, Teresita Reyes by Defense chief Voltaire Gazmin.
Military soldiers gave Reyes a 21-gun salute while relatives and friends stood around the casket to prevent photojournalists and cameramen to take photos of the coffin.
Family members took a last look at their patriarch after saying a short prayer. After which, Reyes’ body was finally lowered to the grave.
Earlier, a troop of military soldiers gave Reyes full military honors at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. The troop and other military men paid their last respects to their former chief led by current AFP Chief General Ricardo David.
Among those who were present to pay their last respects to Reyes include ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Presidential Chief of Staff Mike Defensor, and some cabinet officials of the former administration, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, and AFP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta.
Military chaplain, Monsignor Albert Songco was the officiator of a requiem mass, which was attended by the family, relatives, and friends of Reyes and the military at the canopy of Camp Aguinaldo.
Reyes’ granddaughter, Annaly, read a letter to her grandfather during the mass saying, “Papa Gie is my favorite lolo in the whole world. He is now my guardian angel. I love him very much.” Meanwhile, Raffy and Mickey, two other grandchildren of Reyes offered him songs.
The former AFP chief and Defense Secretary Reyes, who was accused of receiving illicit pay-offs coming from the military funds, shot himself in front of his parents’ graves last Tuesday at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City, two weeks after a Senate hearing related to the AFP corruption.
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