Senator Antonio Trillanes and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim Take Over the Manila Peninsula Hotel!

I'm in Makati City right now. Senator Antonio Trillanes and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim marched to the Manila Peninsula Hotel after storming out of the Makati City Regional Trial Court. Antonio Trillanes and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim are calling upon the Filipino people to withdraw support from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Will later post pictures on initial developments outside the Manila Penn. Some interesting reads include:

• - Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Brigadier Gen. Danilo Lim walked out of a Makati City courtroom and called upon the Filipino people to withdraw support from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Lim, who faces court martial proceedings in connection with the uprising on February 24 last year, was testifying on the coup d'etat case against the Magdalo Group when the incident occurred.
  
  
• - Transcript of Magdalo soldier Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, which he read during the conference.
  
  
• - Civil society groups and bishops called for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign and called on the people to come out and show support for Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. Among them were Jimmy Regalario of the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya, Father Robert Reyes, former University of the Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Bishops Julius Labayen and Gaudencio Tobias.
  
  
• - The website of a shadowy group called "Sundalo" is calling on the people to support rebel soldiers currently holed up in a hotel in Makati, just a few hours after they walked out of a court hearing. In bold and capital letters, the website announced: “Senator Antonio Trillanes, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, and Magdalo soldiers, their guards and the people are now in Manila Peninsula.”
  
  
• - Sundalo: The die is cast.
  
  
• - The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday afternoon gave Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim until 3 p.m. to peacefully surrender to authorities, as it ordered the evacuation of guests and personnel inside the Manila Peninsula Hotel.
  

• - Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is confident that “nothing will happen after 3 p.m.” Trillanes issued the statement Thursday as the deadline set by authorities for the senator and his group to vacate the Manila Peninsula lapsed. “What we did is a moral obligation, not only as citizens of this country,” said Trillanes, adding, “It is our duty as religious individuals to do what is right.”
  

  
  
• - "Marine Captain Nicanor Faeldon is going to be forcibly arraigned on the charge of violation of Article of War 70, in the absence of counsel," Trixie Angeles said.
  
  
• - President Arroyo ordered Thursday the Philippine National Police to arrest rebel soldiers, led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, who occupied the Manila Peninsula Hotel and called for the president's ouster.
  

  
  
• - Soldiers set up checkpoints along the south and north Luzon expressways to prevent troops sympathetic to Senator Antonio Trillanes from proceeding to Metro Manila. Trillanes and other soldiers accused of coup d’etat walked out of their hearing at the Makati regional trial court and led a march to the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City on Thursday.
  
  
• - Major General Rodrigo Maclang, commander of the military’s Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), has declared “heightened alert” in Central Luzon, the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, and Cordillera.
  
  
• - Malacañang has advised the public to stay away from the Ayala area "to avoid any confusion," as law enforcers said it was prepared to enforce the arrest warrant on Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said however that the situation was "under control" and assured that the rule of law would prevail.
  
  
• - The Presidential Security Group (PSG) was placed on red alert as security around the Malacañang Complex and nearby streets were tightened. Brigadier Gen. Romeo Prestoza, PSG commander, assured that Palace security personnel are prepared. The development comes on the heels of the protest march of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brigadier Gen. Danilo Lim in Makati City.
  
  
• - The forces of the Philippine Army troops are "intact" and will remain loyal to the chain of command amid calls by rebellious soldiers for their troops and the public to withdraw support from the government, Army chief Lieutenant General Alexander Yano said Thursday.
  
  
  
• - Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez on Thursday afternoon said those who led the courtroom walkout and the march to the Manila Peninsula hotel may face charges of sedition. Gonzalez, who was at an emergency Cabinet meeting in Malacañang, said tagged the Makati City gathering of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Brig. Gen Danilo Lim, several opposition figures and their supporters as “illegal."
  
  
• - Profile on former Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV, 36, an elected senator, who led a march for withdrawal of support call against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday with Brigadier Gen. Danilo Lim and former Vice President Teofisto Guingona.
  
  
• - Profile on Brig. Gend. Danilo, who was relieved from his post as commander of the elite First Scout Rangers Regiment for allegedly plotting a coup d'etat against the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration.
  
  
• - Oakwood Mutiny: More than 300 junior officers and enlisted men took over the Oakwood Premier in the Ayala Center, Makati City on July 27, 2003.
  
  
• - Navy Ltsg. Antonio Trillanes IV, Army Capt. Gerardo Gambala, Army Capt. Milo Maestrecampo, Navy Ltsg. James Layug, and Marine Capt. Gary Alejano led more than 300 junior officers and enlisted men and took over the Oakwood Premier in the Ayala Center, Makati City on July 27, 2003.
  
  
• - Destabilization efforts against the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration
  
  
• - Statement from a Magdalo soldier
  
  
• - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has left San Pablo City aboard a helicopter and will head straight to Malacañang where she will preside over a meeting by the crisis committee of the National Security Council that will discuss the situation in Makati City involving Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
  
  
• - “Trillanes and Lim are just saving their own skin in causing (a) commotion. That is just so irresponsible… This will definitely have an effect on our economy and the foreigners’ perception on our country," said Donald Dee, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
  
  
• - On the eve of the government-imposed "deadline" for their surrender, military sympathizers of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brigadier Gen. Danilo Lim said Thursday expressed readiness to fight to the very end.
  
  
• - Sen. Mar Roxas on Thursday urged his colleague Sen. Antonio Trillanes to “be calm, and do not bring this to a point where our people’s blood will be shed," adding that “we hear the frustration, the cynicism, the estrangement from the government that is in your voice and in your positions."
  
  
• - Pro-government have started closing in on the Manila Peninsula Hotel, in what is perceived as a preparation for a possible assault on the hotel in a bid to rearrest Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.
  
  
• - After failing to convince members of the media and supporters of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim to leave the hotel, police Dir. Geary Barias on Thursday afternoon reiterated that government troops will effect the two officials' arrest by 3 p.m.
  
  
• - "Don't let the guests leave. Don't restrain them," Antonio Trillanes said in Filipino. He gave no other statement.
  
  
• - Senator Antonio Trillanes IV issued a message Thursday urging hotel guests to remain in their room, radio DZBB reported.
  
  
• - Vice President Manuel "Noli" de Castro appealed for calm in the wake of tensions at a Makati City hotel where Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brigadier Gen. Danilo Lim have been holed up since late Thursday morning.
  
  
• - Guests started evacuating a luxury hotel in Makati City Thursday after a group of rebel soldiers took over the building and demanded the resignation of President Arroyo.
  
  
• - On Thursday, the luxurious 497-room The Peninsula Hotel Manila became an unwilling host to a standoff tension between mutinous troops led by detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and soldiers loyal to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
  

  
  
• - The Philippine military is rushing around 1,500 troops to the capital Manila to crush a mutiny by rebel soldiers who have taken over a luxury hotel, a military spokesman said.
  
  
• - Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief of staff, said he hopes that the situation will not end up in “soldiers killing each other.”
  
  
• - At least 50 Special Weapons and Tactics commandos have lined up outside the Manila Pensinsula hotel in Makati City to enforce the arrest of rebel soldiers who stormed out of a Makati courtroom and called for President Arroyo's resignation.

• - Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday said he expects the worst to happen after he and two dozen rebel soldiers took over a luxury hotel in Makati City and called for President Arroyo's resignation.
  
  
• - Brigadier General Danilo Lim on Thursday said they will not surrender to government authorities, despite reported deployment of pro-government troops in preparation for the serving of the arrest warrant against Lim and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
  

  
  
• - The takeover by rebel soldiers over a luxury hotel in Makati City might be part of a bigger plot by anti-Arroyo groups to overthro the government, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Thursday.
  
  
• - Footage taken by ABS-CBN Sky Patrol showed Special Weapons and Tactics commandos moving in battle formation towards the hotel at 4 p.m.
  
  
  
• - An hour since the 3 p.m. deadline lapsed, government troops began its assault on the Manila Peninsula Hotel at 4 p.m.
  
  
• - Government soldiers, backed by armored personnel carrier, also were seen taking combat positions outside the hotel. Some were also seen going into the hotel premises.
  
  
• - Coping mechanisms