Possible coup attempt uncovered against Arroyo government
Updated
In the Philippines, another elaborate coup attempt against president Gloria Arroyo has allegedly been uncovered. Authorities say five men tried to blackmail a Japanese businessman in order to finance the plot.
Presenter: Joanna McCarthy
Speaker: Philippine Attorney Raymond Fortun
MCCARTHY: Philippine Attorney Raymond Fortun told police the five men attempted to blackmail his client, ta Japanese businessman, in order to finance the coup.
Hours later, police arrested Homobono Adaza, a high profile lawyer linked to the opposition, and four retired police and military officers.
Raymond Fortuna says he had no choice but to go to the police.
FORTUN: About two days ago a Japanese client of mine was threatened with being held responsible for the death of two individuals if the Japanese would not turn over four million US dollars to a group of ex-military personnel here in the Philippines, which they will use to finance an attempted coup attempt against the Arroyo government.
MCCARTHY: And what relationship did your client have with these men that caused them to try to make this alleged extortion bid?
FORTUN: Well initially this group was hired to provide options. The Japanese client that I have had some business dealings with some Filipinos which apparently turned sour. Now this group was supposed to provide for a solution, instead of doing that they turned around and double-crossed my client and instead threatened him with, well as I mentioned, pinning a murder charge on him if he doesn't comply.
MCCARTHY: Do you believe that these men would have had the means to go through with the alleged coup plot had they been given the financing?
FORTUN: To be perfectly honest with you and after I had been debriefed by the police authorities here in the Philippines, I may actually believe that it was merely just an extortion attempt instead of an honest to goodness and legitimate threat on the Arroyo government. However, as you can understand at the time that these threats were made, I was of the impression that they did have a sizeable force that they did claim that they had some troops under their command in Mindanao that they will be able to utilise to launch a strike force against the government in Manila. So at that particular time when the threats were made I was of the impression that they were indeed serious and that the threat of coup was indeed legitimate.
MCCARTHY: But now is it your opinion that in fact they may not have been able to go through with that threat?
FORTUN: Well you have to understand again that I'm only getting information from the Filipino authorities so at this juncture I may probably not be in a position to say that the threat has actually subsided. This group at the time that they made the threat had mentioned that there was in fact another group that was mobilising to try to bring down the government, and that the reason why they wanted to speed up the payment is because they wanted to be the first, meaning to pre-empt the other group from being able to stage their own coup.
MCCARTHY: Do you have concerns about your own safety?
FORTUN: Oh most definitely, the people that I have charged in court are people who have the means to inflict bodily harm on me and my family. I would be very hopeful that the government would indeed try to look at this matter and see if they can ensure my safety so that I can testify in court.
MCCARTHY: And finally Mr Adaza, their lawyer who's been arrested is threatening to sue your client over these allegations, calling him a pathological liar. Does that concern you?
FORTUN: Well whatever he is saying is quite understandable, he has been arrested on the spot because of the charge of proposal to commit a coup. So whatever he says right now will probably be because of him being emotional at this particular time. Hopefully, his emotions will subside and he will realise that any counter suits at this stage would also be counterproductive for him.
