Aquino Was Not Target, Honasan Says : In Taped Message, Coup Leader Admits ‘Tactical Blunder’

The leader of the bloody Aug. 28 failed coup attempt against President Corazon Aquino said in a taped message today that his men had no intention of hurting the president in the series of armed attacks on the presidential palace and other key government targets, and he conceded that his group of mutinous soldiers may have made a “fatal tactical blunder” by aborting their bid to take over the government.

In his first public statement since fleeing at the height of an urban battle with Aquino’s loyalist armed forces, Col. Gregorio (Gringo) Honasan also indicated that he and his men, whose grievances enjoy considerable sympathy within the loyalist forces, will continue their struggle against Aquino and her armed forces chief, Gen. Fidel V. Ramos.

Honasan described the bloodshed during the coup try, in which Aquino said 53 civilians and soldiers were killed and at least 260 wounded, as “an initial, necessary step to set a new direction for our country and people.”

The casualties, he said were “regrettable and inexcusable.”

Taped Message

Honasan, who has been in hiding since he left the rebels’ stronghold at Manila’s commandeered Camp Aguinaldo military base, made the comments in a 15-minute taped message aired today by at least one Manila radio station.

Military and civilian sources close to Honasan confirmed that it was his voice.

In another document, delivered to The Times today by right-wing political sources in Manila, a group calling itself “The Ruling Junta of the Nationalist Provisional Government Under the Armed Forces of the Philippines”--apparently Honasan’s group--outlined a “nine-point program of government” that it called “a democratic government for the masses, by the masses and of the masses.”

In describing what the group referred to as its “ideological foundation,” the document calls for the removal of all “oligarchs” from government, implementation of sweeping legal reforms, a military that is “less dependent on the government” and a political leadership that “represents the purest desires and dreams of the Filipino masses.”

“It is not communism; it is not socialism,” the rebel group said in labeling its ideology. “It is Filipinism.”

The document, dated Sept. 3, was also sharply critical of the United States, which staunchly supported Aquino during the coup. It resurrected charges that the Americans allegedly killed 1 million Filipinos during the Philippine insurrection more than 80 years ago, and it said that Filipino veterans from World War II are being “mistreated” by America.

It could not be independently verified that the nine-page document was written by Honasan’s group, but it was released by the same sources who this week delivered a one-page declaration of the provisional military junta government that Ramos has said is Honasan’s.

Brother Arrested

Government authorities, meanwhile, arrested Honasan’s brother, Don, on illegal firearms charges after police raided his house and found an M-16 assault rifle and large quantities of ammunition.

Ramos’ senior commanders said the military manhunt for Honasan and as many as 1,000 troops that the government suspects may have fled along with him continued without any leads to his whereabouts.

Honasan did not explain in his taped message why he broke off his mutiny, despite a statement aired by the rebels on a commandeered television station during the coup that they would fight to the death.

The colonel, who planned and led the 1986 successful military revolt against Marcos along with Honasan’s boss at the time, former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, indicated, however, that his aim was to limit the bloodshed.

“It may have been a fatal tactical error,” he said of his retreat from Camp Aguinaldo during an air strike and intense artillery barrage ordered by Aquino and Ramos, but Honasan added that the rebels “held back our punches . . . to save more lives.”

Apparently as part of the government’s effort to trace Honasan, police also raided on Friday a security-guard agency owned by Enrile.