Factions within the police and the military
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency amid serious factionalism within the ranks of the military and police and a mad scramble among the various sections of the ruling class to benefit from the Estrada clique�s ouster, attain power and share in its corresponding perks and privileges. In fact, the existence of various factions within the AFP and PNP merely mirrors the intense rivalries within the ruling class.
The new ISAFP chief Col. Victor Corpus has himself declared that there are many military officials who do not completely accept Macapagal- Arroyo as the new president, and that this would continue to be a source of threats to the stability of the new government. Behind such discontent is the disgust of elements within the reactionary classes who have not benefited from the new powersharing arrangements under the current regime.
The Ramos-de Villa faction has emerged dominant, based on the composition of Macapagal-Arroyo�s cabinet. Under the direction and orders of US imperialism, it was the Ramos-de Villa faction that maneuvered to launch the staged defection of top military and police officials like Gen. Angelo Reyes and Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim.
Despite Estrada�s ouster, however, Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco wields immense power in the AFP through Reyes and Calimlim who were appointed upon Danding�s orders. Now that Estrada has been ousted, Danding Cojuangco is using his deep influence within the military and police to ensure that the
Macapagal-Arroyo government does not undertake any move that would be detrimental to his interests.
On the other hand, a group headed by a former general, Fortunato Abat and his son-in-law, PNP Col. Jaime Caringal, is allied with Jose "Peping" Cojuangco. The group mobilized Scout Ranger troops and AFP brigades in an attempted coup days before the EDSA 2 uprising began on the night of January 16. They had planned to take over Camp Crame to arrest or neutralize pro-Estrada PNP officials led by Dir. Gen. Panfilo Lacson and Col. Michael Ray Aquino.
Peping Cojuangco�s group, one of the original organizers of the broad anti-Estrada united front, did not benefit much from the new power arrangements.
Also among those who did not benefit was the group led by Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson whose expos�s of Estrada�s anomalies in October precipitated the rapid exacerbation of the Estrada regime�s political crisis. With Singson in the group is Lt. Gen. Edgardo Espinosa, former Southcom and Philippine Marines chief and currently the head of the AFP Joint Command and Staff College.
Aside from those mentioned, there are at least nine more minor factions in the AFP and PNP that acted independently of each other to overthrow Estrada. Each faction represented a reactionary politician desiring to ovethrow the Estrada clique to advance his own interests.
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