Gregorio Honasan

Gregorio Honasan, 2016

Gregorio "Gringo" Ballesteros Honasan II (born March 14, 1948 in Baguio City , Benguet , Philippines ) is a Filipino colonel and politician .

biography

After attending school, he joined the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and completed his officer training in 1971 at the Philippine Military Academy. Subsequently it was used in the armed conflict with Islamic rebels in Mindanao . In 1982 he founded an organization of officers that opposed the growing control of the army by followers of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos . This organization, known as Reform the Armed Forces (RAM), had 300 members by the end of Marcos' reign.

After Marcos went into exile in February 1986 due to the massive protests during the EDSA revolution , named after Epifanio de los Santos Avenue , or EDSA for short , Honasan was promoted to colonel at the beginning of President Corazon Aquino's term of office and was promoted to security chief by the defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile appointed. Honasan, who previously feared that Marcos would reveal the activities of the RAM, was one of Enrile's closest supporters and became a popular hero because of his stance against dictator Marcos . In several interviews, however, he soon criticized the lack of harshness on the part of President Aquino against the communist New People's Army (NPA) and the slowness of the reform of the armed forces . On the suspicion of sympathy between Enrile and Honasan for a military coup in late 1986, Secretary of Defense Enrile was dismissed on November 23, 1986 and Honasan was sent to central Luzon to train recruits .

On August 28, 1987, he led an attempt to take over several key facilities in Metro Manila . However, most of his supporters had surrendered within 24 hours. He himself was arrested in Manila in December 1987 and released from the army. In April 1988, the escape from a succeeded to prison the Navy , he that in December 1989, again a coup was against President Aquino cited. In December 1992, he appeared in peace talks offered by the new President, Fidel Ramos .

In 1995 he was elected to the Senate (Senado ng Pilipinas) as the first independent candidate in the history of the Philippines . He held this position until 2004.

He was later charged with participating in military mutinies and attempted coups against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in July 2003 and February 2006 . For this reason, he was temporarily arrested in November 2006.

In May 2007, after his release , he ran again successfully as an independent candidate for a seat in the Senate and was elected tenth-best senator for one of the 12 Senate seats with 11.6 million votes. In the election on May 13, 2013, Honasan was re-elected to 12th place with 13.2 million votes.

Web links

• rulers.org