Querubin to public: 'Protect us from aggression'

Querubin to public: 'Protect us from aggression'
First posted 06:07pm (Mla time) Feb 26, 2006
By Joel Francis Guinto
INQ7.net

A MARINE Colonel implicated in the alleged thwarted plot to unseat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called on the public on Sunday to come to Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio to "protect us from aggression." "I will wait for the people to come here and protect us from aggression," Colonel Ariel Querubin told ANC television.

Querubin said he would be holed up at the Marine Corps headquarters to show support for his former commandant, Major General Renato Miranda, who was relieved upon his request on Sunday.

When asked about the alleged threats of aggression, Querubin said, "I don't know, but I expect that to happen."

Querubin also confirmed that he planned to join street protests last Friday and that he planned to bring along a "majority" of the 400-strong Marine officer corps.

The Marine colonel said he would join protests so that efforts to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "will not turn bloody." He said Miranda tried to dissuade them from doing so.

"We were prevailed upon by General Miranda," he said.

The military had claimed that the street protests last Friday were meant to pressure Military Chief General Generoso Senga to withdraw support from Arroyo, who remains hounded by allegations of electoral fraud.

Another officer, Army Brigadier General Danilo Lim, has been placed under house arrest and relieved as commander of the First Scout Ranger Regiment also for allegedly pressuring Senga to turn against the President.