Honasan Says Ideals, Not Bribes, Led Guards to Aid Escape

Escaped coup leader Gregorio (Gringo) Honasan disputed the military account of his break for freedom in an interview published today, claiming that his jailers helped him flee out of sympathy for his demands for reform.

The military acknowledged earlier that four air force men, detained for participating in two aborted coups, escaped before Honasan’s dramatic Saturday morning breakout from a prison ship. The military said the events were not linked.

Authorities claimed that Honasan, a former army colonel, bribed the 14 members of his security detail, who escaped with him in two rubber boats, and that crewmen on the Andres Bonifacio prison ship fired at the fleeing boats.

But the Daily Globe newspaper reported that Honasan, in an exclusive interview, denied that shots were fired or that he offered bribes. The elite guard detail helped him simply out of a conviction that reforms are still needed in the military, Honasan said.

At least two radio stations claim to have interviewed Honasan since his escape, but they have been barred by the Justice Department from airing the interviews under threat of losing their licenses.

The armed forces, meanwhile, pressed the search for Honasan. His one-time mentor, opposition Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, charged that soldiers raided his beach house, but the military denied it.