Honasan files bid, wants to retake Senate seat

Flanked by police security personnel, arrested former Sen. Gregorio Honasan on Wednesday morning filed his certificate of candidacy for his senatorial bid at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Manila. Radio station dzBB reported that a phalanx of police Special Action Force personnel stood as guards in front of the Comelec while a separate team accompanied Honasan to the poll body's Legal Department. Some 100 of Honasan's supporters, mostly from his Philippine Guardians Brotherhood Inc., arrived at the Comelec as a show of support for their colleague. Honasan was accompanied by his wife Jane, two children, and his lawyer Danilo Gutierrez. He gave Jane white roses wrapped in pink paper as his advanced Valentine's Day gift. "I have always run as an independent but we welcome any expression of support from any group administration or opposition and individual," he told reporters in a brief ambush interview. Gutierrez said Tuesday that his client would welcome the reported possible endorsement from the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Honasan said he will run on a platform of "peace, unity and reconciliation." Asked how he will campaign while under detention at Fort Sto. Domingo in Laguna, he said, "We will try our best to bring our programs to the people." Honasan was arrested last November 15 at the Greenmeadows Subdivision in Quezon City. He has been charged with coup d' etat for alleged involvement in the short-lived Oakwood mutiny in 2003. He faces a separate rebellion charge for his supposed participation in a botched uprising in February 24 last year. Honasan's move came a day after Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV, who is also charged in connection with the Oakwood mutiny, filed his senatorial bid. Radio station dzBB reported that Honasan left his detention facility in Sta. Rosa, Laguna at 8 a.m. Wednesday also under tight guard. The former senator wore a barong shirt and had a slight limp because of the foot injury he suffered while trying to flee from police last November 15. Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati regional trial court-Branch 148 earlier allowed Honasan to leave his detention cell to file his certificate of candidacy but gave tight conditions. Pimentel forbade Honasan from speaking to reporters about his rebellion case, and from early campaigning. - GMANews.TV