Coup plotters: who’s Norberto Gonzales?

“ANG PAPEL NI NORBERTO GONZALES, MANGGULO SA PILIPINAS.”

AFTER Sen. Miriam Santiago’s teaser last week about a coup plot brewing against President Noynoy Aquino, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday revealed one name among the plotters.

Trillanes was asked by reporters if Gonzales was among the plotters and the senator said “yes.” His “exact term”: “may mga nagpaplanong magpatalsik sa presidente.”

Not the usual coup plotters, as Trillanes admitted, but they hope to recruit active AFP members for the coup.

The military component in an illegal takeover is necessary as mere demand for PNoy to quit is not a coup plot. Two or three bishops are publicly calling for PNoy’s resignation but they’re not coup plotters. Who is Norberto B. Gonzales? Gonzales, 68 this coming April 17, of San Juan, Metro Manila, was twice defense secretary and served as national security adviser and director-general of the National Security Council during the Arroyo administration. He was chairperson of Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilippinas.

He and Jesuit Archie Intengan were suspected of being “architects” of a plan to extend Arroyo’s presidency. He was cited for contempt when he testified at the Senate hearing on the Venable contract involving millions of taxpayers money for a lobby in the U.S. Congress.

Gonzales was among the guests at the birthday party of Cardinal Ricardo Vidal in Cebu City last Feb. 13.