On July 27, 2003, the Oakwood mutiny was led by a group of about 300 armed defectors from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) led by Army Capt. Gerardo Gambala and Navy Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV against the Arroyo administration. The group forcibly seized and occupied Oakwood Premier Ayala Center, an apartment complex in Glorietta, Makati, for almost 20 hours. They expressed grievances against the government's supervision of the military, and demanded the resignation of Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, PNP Chief Hermogenes Ebdane, and AFP Chief of Intelligence Service Victor Corpus; they also aired their grievances against the military establishment and anomalies on the AFP. The mutiny was covered heavily by the local press, with ABS-CBN News writer Joel Saracho dubbing the group "Magdalo" in reference to their insignia, mistakenly assuming it referred to the Magdalo faction of the Katipunan during the Philippine Revolution, despite the group officially calling themselves "Bagong Katipuneros" (transl. New Katipuneros). The mutiny ended after the government successfully negotiated with the group. Several prominent participants of the mutiny, including Trillanes and Gambala, were later charged.
An official investigation was launched afterwards. A final report released in October of the same year identified the mutiny leaders, as well as underscoring the need for the modernization of the AFP. While detained, Trillanes wrote a thesis in 2004 on how to prevent future military interventions based on his analysis of Arroyo administration policies. He later ran and won a seat for senator in the 2007 elections under the Genuine Opposition coalition, despite being in prison. He attempted another mutiny against Arroyo in 2007, but it also failed. He was later released in 2010 following an executive order issued by Arroyo. Meanwhile, Gambala and eight other rebel officials were later given a presidential pardon in 2008 upon their admission of guilt. They were discharged from military service after pleading guilty on the military tribunal.
Background
The Fact-Finding Commission
According to the report of the post-mortem Fact Finding Commission chaired by Florentino P. Feliciano, a retired Supreme Court justice, "the incidents leading to the mutiny were not spontaneous, but a mere alternative plan to an overarching plot to overthrow the government". The finding disproved the initial claim made by Trillanes before the commission that the forceful occupation of the Oakwood Service Apartments by the Magdalo Group was "unplanned and spontaneous".
Further findings gathered by the commission revealed that extensive planning and preparations for several months had preceded the events of July 27, 2003. "Gripe sessions" were held among military personnel sought to be recruited, which included the dissemination and discussion of copies of the "National Recovery Program" (NRP) authored by Col. Gregorio Honasan (retired), and a document entitled "The Last Revolution". Bloodletting meetings and the taking of an "Oath of Loyalty" by the recruits were conducted. The purchase of flags, armbands, uniforms, backpacks and other rebel paraphernalia, including telecommunications equipment and vehicles were also taking place.
A photograph taken in one of these meetings, which was released to the press by the Presidential Security Group (PSG), showed Trillanes and a person believed to be Honasan standing before the Philippine flag and a flag or streamer with the Magdalo countersign.
From July to December 2002, word began to spread about military personnel who were disseminating spurious queries about grievances within the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Reports were leaked involving the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), constituted by maverick junior officers and discontented enlisted personnel. These reports were submitted to Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus, confirmed by a later investigation that secret meetings were taking place among the insurgents; being held in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Mindanao.
Meetings reportedly took place in the Robinsons Galleria Suites in Ortigas Center, Pasig, Metro Manila, on June 4, 2003, and a "Blood Compact" ritual among the RAM recruits on June 12, 2003, in a safehouse located in San Juan, Metro Manila, allegedly presided over by Gregorio Honasan. In the meeting, Honasan discussed his NRP agenda and “The Last Revolution”, concluding that "the only means to achieve that platform or vision is through the use of force, violence, or armed struggle" . The bloodletting rite was administered to those who membership in the "Magdalo" group. To carry out the bloodletting rite, Honasan provided special knives and showed the participants how to inscribe the letter “ᜃ” (Unicode 1703) or "Ka" of the Old Tagalog alphabet under their left upper arms.
In the June 12 meeting in San Juan, the following topics were discussed: the peace and order situation, the national economy, the alleged illegitimacy of the Arroyo administration, the Joseph Estrada plunder case, and the military's purported need to rectify the supposed errors brought about by the consequence of EDSA 2. It was during this meeting that Army Maj. Perfecto Ragil, a member of the AFP Electronics and Information Systems Services assigned to Malacañang Palace, was tasked by Marine Capt. Gary Alejano to disable the palace's telephone system on "D-Day".
Intelligence reports
Based on intelligence reports, two documents of dubious origin were distributed during the meeting in San Juan. These documents were "designed to pollute the minds of the junior officers". The first was a supposed Memorandum of Instructions addressed to the Secretary of National Defense dated February 11, 2003, directing the full implementation of "Oplan Greenbase".
The document, purportedly signed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, contained a plan to capture Hashim Salamat dead or alive and to occupy the Buliok Complex at the Liguasan Marsh area in Cotabato. Secretary Eduardo Ermita of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) purportedly signed the other document entitled "The President' s Four-Point Policy Framework in Addressing the Southern Philippines Secessionist/MILF Problem", allegedly pursuant to the February 11 Presidential Memorandum of Instructions. This latter document purports to show that "there is apparently a plan by the government to hold the MILF responsible for AFP-backed bombings in urban areas in Mindanao". President Arroyo denied having issued the first memorandum, and Ermita denounced the second document as being spurious and fabricated.
The meeting on the night of June 12 was reportedly attended by top RAM officers including Honasan and retired Navy Capt. Felix Turingan, and the rebel leaders Trillanes, Gambala, and other junior officers. The group planned to attack high impact targets such as the Malacañang Palace, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Fort Bonifacio, Camp Crame, Villamor Air Base, Camp Aguinaldo, and all television and radio stations in Metro Manila.
The plotters underwent the ritual earlier described as bloodletting, which they termed "dinuguan". Apart from the gripe sessions and bloodletting rites, the Magdalo group’s preparations included the acquisition of rebel paraphernalia. On June 4, 2003, a male customer went to the International Flag House (IFH) in Manila and placed a job order for 100 pieces each of Philippine flags and Aguinaldo flags (i.e., displaying the Magdalo symbol). He deposited ₱1,000.00 (equivalent to ₱1,974 in 2021) for the job order, the total cost of which was ₱24,000.00 (equivalent to ₱47,379 in 2021). The customer wrote his name on Job Order 2186 as Armand Pontejos and his telephone number as 456-3222.
Subsequent additional orders were placed for more flags, which orders raised the total cost to P45,000.00. The customer was later identified as Navy Ensign Armand Pontejos, PMA '00, one of the rebel soldiers who went to Oakwood.
Another rebel soldier who went to Oakwood was Navy Lt. Manuel Cabochan, of PMA '95 who bought 49 sets of battle dress attire (BDA) uniforms, T-shirts, and combat boots worth ₱108,780.00 (equivalent to ₱214,743 in 2021) on June 30, 2003.
There is evidence the Magdalo group also acquired vehicles apparently to transport troops to target areas. On July 23, five Hyundai Aero buses (presumably second hand) were purchased for ₱2.10 million in cash by Francisco Dimaculangan and Isidro Samaco from a company named Car Option Sales, Inc.
One bus was later found in Oakwood while another was abandoned in Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite. There is also evidence that some communications equipment used by the rebel soldiers were of the same specifications as those proposed to be acquired under the AFP Modernization Act. It was established that such equipment was not taken from any known or existing inventory of the AFP.
The Magdalo group, it appears, targeted Oakwood as the site for the execution of "Plan Charlie". On July 19, Gambala checked in at Oakwood under the name of George Uy, coincidentally the same name as SOUTHCOM Admiral George Uy. A cash deposit of ₱48,800.00 (equivalent to ₱96,336 in 2021) for room rental from July 19 to 28, 2003 was paid by someone calling herself Tina Uy Angeles, who made the reservation.
Discovery of the plot
From July 21 to 23, unauthorized troop movements apparently bound for Manila had been monitored upon validation of the information that there was restiveness among junior AFP officers.
Having validated the coup rumors and considering the troop movements, the government took a number of pre-emptive measures. It was fortuitous that these rumors and troop movements materialized just prior to President Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (SONA) scheduled for delivery on July 28. In connection with the SONA, the government was already taking measures to ensure the security of the president and the government. On July 10, the National Security Council (NSC) had requested the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) to host a "small group" meeting of the Special Monitoring Committee Alpha (SMC Alpha), which was organized to ensure security during the SONA, together with the major service intelligence chiefs of the AFP and counter-intelligence specialists.
SMC Alpha is composed of representatives from various intelligence bodies, and is mandated to monitor domestic threats, particularly destabilization plots against the government, and to recommend appropriate counterintelligence measures. Its task is to prevent mass mobilizations from turning into a situation similar to the attempted siege of Malacañang Palace on May 1, 2001, by the supporters of former President Joseph Estrada.
At the SMC Alpha meeting held on July 11, the details of the recruitment by the Magdalo group were discussed and those involved were identified. On the same day, NICA Director General Cesar Garcia reported to National Security Adviser Roilo Golez on the ongoing recruitment activities in the AFP by certain junior officers. Subsequently, SMC Alpha submitted a report from various intelligence sources that the plot being watched involved plans to temporarily reinstate deposed President Estrada.
On July 12, the intelligence group informed President Arroyo about persistent reports of rebel recruitment activities in the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP), particularly in Mindanao, Central Luzon, and Metro Manila. The Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (J2), MGen. Pedro Cabuay, presented a summary of what was taken up at NICA the previous day. Considering its highly sensitive nature, the information was kept within a small group. Apart from the top officers of the AFP and the PNP, only a small number of Cabinet members attended. Recruitment efforts were noted to be most intense in the 1st Scout Ranger Regiment and Special Forces Regiment of the Special Operations Command, the Philippine Navy (SWAG), Fort Bonifacio Units, the Philippine Army’s Light Armor Brigade (LABDE) and the Anti-Crime Task Force (ACTAF). Most of those who were approached were junior officers from the PMA classes of ’95 thru ’99. Considering the situation as having developed into a crisis, the President immediately designated Golez as crisis manager. An action plan was approved which consisted of pre-emptive measures employing persuasion efforts on the one hand, and cracking down on the suspected plotters should they commit any overt illegal acts, on the other.
Recruitment activities by suspected rebels were again reported during the July 14 meeting of the Cabinet Oversight Committee – Internal Security (COC-IS). The meeting discussed threats to SONA and the concomitant security preparations. At this time, the Government had not yet established concrete links between the recruitment of military officers as rebels and the anti-government mass actions mobilized for the SONA. In the meeting of SMC Alpha on July 15, the recruitment had been reported as led by a covert fraternity called the “New Filipino Heroes” who were advocating the adoption of the NRP of Honasan. Plans of the groups to rescue and release former President Estrada from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) and to take over radio and television stations were likewise revealed. Another meeting by the SMC Alpha took place on July 18 to ensure that the action plans agreed upon were already in place and being implemented.
Having received reports about the troop movements, PNP Chief and Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. issued a directive to all field commanders to coordinate with AFP units and investigate any unauthorized movements and other groupings. He also ordered all PNP personnel to be accounted for, and declared a full alert status for the PNP National Headquarters in Camp Crame, effective 6:00 pm on July 22, 2003. There was also an order to reinforce the guards at Camp Crame.