December 31, 2001, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Isafp grills ex-Lacson men, by Carlito Pablo and Martin P. Marfil,

THE MILITARY has seized 100 blocks of C-4 plastic explosives from nine members of a commando group formerly under Sen. Panfilo Lacson when he was chief of the Philippine National Police and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF).

The seizure of the explosives led to the arrest on Dec. 28 of Lt. Junior Grade Don Anthony Miraflor and eight of his men from the now disbanded Special Reaction Unit (SRU) of the Navy's elite Special Warfare Group (SWAG), which was previously attached to the PAOCTF.

Miraflor, a member of Class 1991 of the Philippine Military Academy, and his men are undergoing interrogation at the Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Makati.

"This cache of explosives can flatten all major military service headquarters in Metro Manila, including the AFP-GHQ (Armed Forces of the Philippines General Headquarters) and DND (Department of National Defense) building, plus five other buildings in Makati," said a source from the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp).

Easy to conceal because it can be molded like putty, C-4 is the most powerful explosive in the arsenals of the military and the police. "It is more powerful than TNT," the source said of C-4, one of the favorite weapons of terrorists worldwide.

He said military investigators were determining whether the explosives used in the bombings in Metro Manila on Dec. 30, 2000 came from the same cache. The bombings killed at least 17 people and maimed more than a hundred others.

President Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered an investigation to find out why the members of the disbanded SRU were in possession of the explosives, according to the source.

"But obviously there is an evil intent behind the possession of these explosives. Where will they use it in the first place?" the source said.

In her "Report to the Nation," aired from Baguio City yesterday, Ms Macapagal said the Armed Forces was "really on the alert."

"Magaling ang kanilang intelligence. Naagapan nila kung sino ba yong gustong mag-adventure pa (They have good intelligence. They were able to neutralize those planning something against the government)," the President said.

Ms Macapagal was obviously referring to certain segments in the military, which are allegedly planning to destabilize her administration.

But Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan, military spokesperson, downplayed speculations that the arrest of Miraflor was linked to any coup attempt.

"This is not related to any coup . . . This was investigated months ago, about June . . . and this is just a follow-up of the information received months ago," Adan told defense reporters yesterday.

The SRU was disbanded last June on orders of Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, AFP chief of staff, amid talks of a destabilization plot against the Macapagal administration.

"To the mind of the chief of staff, it was better to consider a possible worst-case scenario," Adan told defense reporters at that time.

Adan said the disbandment of the SRU was intended to "prevent the possible exploitation of this unit."

The SRU, an elite group within the elite SWAG of the Navy, specialized in demolition and commando tactics.

SRU officers and men were receiving extra allowances of at least P10,000 a month when they were detailed with the PAOCTF, now also disbanded.

At the time of its disbandment, it was led by Miraflor, Lt. Junior Grade Leo Dimoc, and a certain Lt. Junior Grade Camino. The SRU's 77 personnel were sent back to their mother units in the Navy.

Miraflor was arrested at the Sangley Naval Base in Cavite while reportedly visiting the SWAG headquarters for a Christmas reunion. Talk about the arrest swept Camp Aguinaldo that day but military officials had kept it under wraps. Miraflor has since been kept incommunicado.

Raid

On Dec. 21, a military intelligence team raided the barracks of a certain Petty Officer 1 Sotto, a non-commissioned office in charge of the Explosives and Ordnance Disposal team of the SWAG, at the SWAG headquarters in Sangley Point at 10 a.m., according to an unsigned statement sent to the INQUIRER.

The statement said the team from the Isafp was led by a certain Major Zaragosa.

It said MIG-15 agents forcibly opened Sotto's locker where they found explosives duly issued to him. The explosives were kept in the locker because a permanent storage facility for explosives has yet to be constructed, according to the statement.

"At that time, Rosauro Sarmiento, the current SWAG commanding officer, duly informed Zaragosa, his mistah (batch mate) in PMA Class 1987, that the explosives were in the inventory of explosives issued to SWAG.

"However, Zaragosa, who claimed to be acting upon orders from Col. Victor Corpus, Isapf chief, ignored Sarmiento's explanation and went on to seize the explosives purportedly as evidence," the unsigned statement said.

The source confirmed that Miraflor's arrest was the offshoot of the confiscation of 15 blocks of C-4 from the locker of one of his former men, Sotto.

"Upon interrogation, Sotto revealed that the explosives were originally kept at Miraflor's room inside the base. Part of the cache was later moved to Sotto's locker and the rest scattered in a number of areas," the source said. Eighty-five pieces of explosives were recovered two days later.

The source said the C-4 was withdrawn from the Navy armory in Sangley in September 2000.

The SRU's name also surfaced during the Senate's investigation of the alleged involvement of Lacson in drug trafficking.

SRU men were allegedly used to recover drugs dumped from ships into the sea, according to witnesses Mary "Rosebud" Ong and Angelo "Ador" Mawanay.

Fair treatment

Adan said that Miraflor was being investigated because he failed to turn over the explosives to the government.

"The investigation is centered on him (Miraflor) because he was the commander but we can assure those Philippine Military Academy classes . . . (that there will be) fair and just treatment (for Miraflor)," Adan said.

The AFP spokesperson advised Miraflor's classmates to just wait for the results of the investigation. "This is an action of the chain of the command and they should respect it," Adan said.

PMA classes 1990 and 1991 had reportedly issued a joint statement protesting the arrest of Miraflor. Members of the classes said the only sins of those arrested were their being former members of the PAOCTF.

PMA "Sambisig" class of 1991 president Capt. Dennis Kilayco denied yesterday issuing any joint statement.

"We are issuing this collective statement to once and for all clear doubts, dismiss insinuations, and correct public misconceptions against us that may have been brought about by these news articles," Kilayco said in the signed statement.

"The PMA 'Sambisig' class of 1991 remains professional and continuously adheres to the AFP chain of command," he added.

Adan denied any "vendetta" in the arrests. "It has nothing to do with that. Under military regulations, a responsible officer or personnel who had been issued weapons, ammunition or explosives, must account for them," Adan said.

"Otherwise, he has to be investigated for administrative lapses. It is our duty to account for all government property issued to us. So, it has nothing to do with political vendetta . . . This has nothing to do with politics. This is purely an administrative action being undertaken by the Philippine Navy," he said.