Querubin: Marine colonel's call for change in govt taken out of context

The statement of a Marine colonel who appeared on video calling for a change in government was “taken out of context," former Marine Col. Ariel Querubin said Monday, adding that the official was not calling for the ouster of President Benigno Aquino III. Querubin said the seemingly anti-government statement of Col. Generoso Mariano, whom he described as a “friend," were just taken from a lecture that the Marine officer delivered during an “academic discussion." He added that a person, whom he did not identify, approached Mariano and asked him to repeat his lecture in front of a camera. “Hindi ‘yun ang kabuuan ng kanyang speech sa isang forum kung saan nakuha yung video clip na iyon… It was an academic discussion, and he (Mariano) gave an academic statement. Sa atmosphere na ganoon, free willing ang discussion," Querubin said in an interview with GMA News TV’s “News To Go" anchor Howie Severino. He likewise clarified that Mariano was not referring to the Aquino administration when the military officer called for a change in government. “Wala syang tinutukoy na administrasyon doon. Ang binabanggit lang niya 'yung gobyerno, yung sistema. Alam naman natin na maraming dapat baguhin sa sistema," Querubin said. Querubin said Mariano was just “naïve" and “may have been used" to air anti-government sentiments. “I don’t know if he is just naive or kung talagang nagamit sya, pero ganoon ang nangyari," he said. He added that the person who took and uploaded the video should be sanctioned and not Mariano. In the video taken July 3, Mariano said soldiers were also reeling from the relentless rise in the costs of goods, medicine and food, and they can see the inability of government to put up measures to alleviate hunger. The military officer, who retired last Sunday, is currently confined to quarters while the Philippine Navy is investigating him. Querubin himself participated in attempts to overthrow the governments of former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 1989 and 2006, respectively. He lost his senatorial bid during the 2010 polls under the ticket of Senator Manuel Villar Jr., who lost the presidential race to Aquino. Querubin was granted amnesty by the Aquino administration last April. No effect in the Navy Philippine Navy spokesperson Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay meanwhile said that Mariano’s statements had no immediate effect on his colleagues. “Nung lumabas ang video na ito, wala namang nagbago sa morale ng Philippine Navy. Normal naman sa ngayon ang estado ng Philippine Navy," he said in a separate interview. He added that the team tasked to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mariano’s statements will find out if the military officer is indeed guilty of sedition. “Kung sakaling siya ang nasa video, hindi agad-agarang darating sa sedisyon ang charge na ipapataw sa kanya. Aalamin muna ang background nitong nilalaman ng kanyang sinasabi," he said. Tonsay likewise said that Mariano may also be charged with conduct unbecoming of a military officer. Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte on Sunday accused the camp of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of being behind Mariano’s supposed call for Aquino’s removal from office. Former Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, meanwhile, called on the public not to be swayed by Mariano’s “populist rhetoric severely lacking in substance and context." “We must not be seduced by those who exploit the soldiers’ genuine grievances to derail our journey towards meaningful change," said Lim, who was also a participant in coup attempts against the Aquino and Arroyo administrations. Lim, however, admitted that there are existing grievances made by soldiers inside the military institution. “Grievances will always be there. The military is not insulated from this. What is crucial is to distill the real from the imagined, the fundamental from the inconsequential and the untainted from the politically motivated’" Lim said. But Lim was quick to explain that many of the existing grievances from the military institution stem from Arroyo’s “nine-year autocratic rule." - KBK, GMA News