Detained Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, the military officer who led the so-called Manila Peninsula siege in November 2007 with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, may run for the Senate in May 2010.

In an interview opportunity at Camp Aguinaldo on Saturday, Lim declared his intention to run for a “national elective position” in 2010 should the elections push through.

“The option to run for a national elective post in 2010 is seriously being considered. But first, we have to make sure that there will be an election in 2010,” Lim said in a statement.

Lim, who now heads ten military-related groups such as the Magdalo and the Young Officers Union, has been detained since 2006 after being linked to two failed rebellions under the Arroyo administration.

The military officer said he is flattered by the offers made by various opposition parties to join them.

“I have received invitations from different opposition groups to join them and I am grateful that I am being considered as a positive addition to their respective parties. However, the decision to run has to be made first,” Lim replied, when asked which party he will choose.

Do the right thing

When asked to comment about the constitutional assembly pushed by the House of Representatives, Lim said members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should do the “right thing”.

“I stand by my statement that AFP personnel should follow their conscience and do the right thing, should this Administration insist on trampling upon the Constitution we have sworn to follow and respect,” he said.

In a statement he issued on June 4 after the House of Representatives approved a resolution convening a constituent assembly for charter change, Lim said the "Con-Ass Resolution has erased whatever doubts we have about GMA’s true intention of holding on to power beyond 2010."

"This is not the first time she has trampled upon the Constitution we have all sworn to follow and respect. The EDSA Dos in 2001 was a coup d’etat that we, as an organization, took part in to oust a duly elected president. The 2004 election cheating, as exposed by the ‘Hello Garci’ tapes, was partly an AFP operation masterminded by the former Chief-of-Staff, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon. Countless other offenses have followed since," Lim said.

"GMA is determined and she will keep on ramming through every perceived obstacle there is, until she attains her much-coveted goal," he added.

Lim then urged his fellow soldiers to "follow your conscience and do what is right--protect the people and the state." He said "only the collective will of the people with the support of the AFP can stop her [Arroyo]" from holding on to power."

If Lim runs and wins in the May 2010 senatorial elections, he would be the second military rebel to have succeeded in getting a Senate seat.

In May 2007, Trillanes won a Senate seat without campaigning outside his prison in Fort Bonifacio. However, he was adopted as a candidate by the United Opposition. He got 11 million votes based on an anti-Arroyo and anti-corruption advocacy. He remains under detention.