Manila Accuses Enrile in Coup Attempt

Opposition leader Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile was charged today with involvement in this month’s failed coup attempt after witnesses testified that they saw him meeting with renegade army Col. Gregorio (Gringo) Honasan during the uprising.

Honasan, 41, leader of a bloody failed uprising in 1987, allegedly led the Dec. 1-7 rebellion that left 119 people dead and nearly toppled President Corazon Aquino.

Honasan served as Enrile’s chief security officer before Aquino fired Enrile as defense minister in November, 1986. Nine months earlier, Enrile assisted in the February, 1986, popular revolt that forced the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos into exile after 20 years in power. He has made no secret of the fact that he wants to be president.

Enrile, 65, a Harvard-educated lawyer, denied the charges, which carry a penalty ranging from six months to 12 years in prison upon conviction.

“I have not committed a crime,” he said. “I am willing to face (the charges) frontally.”

The investigation that led to the filing of charges named three waiters employed at a hotel that provided catering service to Enrile in his swank Dasmarinas Village home Dec. 1. The waiters testified they saw Enrile conferring with several mutineers.

Enrile is the third civilian to face charges in the insurrection. Rebellion charges were also filed Wednesday against retired generals Felix Brawner, a military consultant in the Senate, and Jaime Echeverria.

More than 1,800 officers and soldiers surrendered in the aborted uprising. Aquino has directed the military to first court-martial the top 15 leaders of the rebellion before proceeding against the remaining mutineers.