Bloody end to Manila airport siege

Bloody end to Manila airport siege
By Luz Baguioro

AN ELITE police team blasted its way into Manila airport's control tower yesterday, shooting dead two men who had seized the building in protest against the ineptitude of the government.

The three-hour siege came barely three months after a soldiers' mutiny over endemic corruption - one of the reasons given by former air transport chief Panfilo Villaruel for his dramatic midnight seizure of the airport building.

Although the authorities tried to portray it as a 'minor police incident', the control tower takeover raised fears about yet another mutiny, coming as it did against a backdrop of coup rumours.

Said political science professor Benito Lim: 'This latest piece of bad news adds to an already very negative impression about the Philippines. It is also reflective of a weak government that is not in control.'

Villaruel, a 62-year-old former head of the Air Transport Office, and his bodyguard Richard Catchillar, a navy reserve officer, were armed with handguns, a grenade and other explosives when they took control of the 10-storey tower.

It forced the shutdown of the Philippine's busiest airport.

In a lengthy radio interview before police stormed the tower, Villaruel complained about widespread corruption, cutbacks in government programmes and the aimless drift of the country.

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http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4386,218978,00.html

than spilling blood for oil and corporate profits.

FILIPINO radio listeners witnessed a bizarre drama on Saturday when GMA Network radio dzBB carried a live interview with an armed ex-aviation chief as he was shot dead by police after seizing the Manila airport control tower.

"We are being murdered here, my friend. I surrender! I surrender!" former Air Transportation Office (ATO) chief Panfilo Villaruel screamed in a telephone call to the station as a police assault squad broke down the door atop the tower.

A short burst of gunfire was heard, followed by labored breathing. Then there was only silence.

(...)

Villaruel said the government had "killed my program" to develop the Defiant 300, a small plane with wooden components, as well as the Hummingbird, a small helicopter.

"When I left the government they disassembled it," Villaruel said. "Had we persevered, we would not be groveling before the Americans for obsolete Hueys (Bell UH-1H helicopters)."

(...)

Villaruel's ex-boss, Ramos' transportation secretary Josephine Lichauco, said the former government official was "very patriotic" but was "in despair" because of what he perceived as lack of government support for his initiatives.

"I can't imagine how he can be killed like that."

Villaruel said the control tower was built in 1994 during his term. "It was named after me and it would be fitting if I died here."


http://www.inq7.net/brk/2003/nov/08/brkpol_14-1.htm