Makati crisis over: Trillanes, Lim yield to Arroyo troops

(Updated 5:40 p.m.) Shortly after an armored personnel carrier rammed into the lobby of the Manila Peninsula hotel, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brigadier Gen. Danilo Lim surrendered to government troops, ending a six-hour standoff in Makati City's financial district. A television news report quoted Trillanes as saying that the decision was reached to avoid the loss of lives. "We're going out for the sake of everybody's safety," Trillanes told a throng of journalists holed up inside the hotel with them. Some media practitioners were hit by tear gas minutes earlier. "We won't live with our conscience if some of you get hurt and killed in the crossfire. We cannot afford that," Trillanes said. Trillanes spoke in the presence of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, two Catholic bishops and civil society personalities. He was resigned that authorities may have their way with him once he, Lim and members of the mutinous Magdalo Group leave the hotel. "We're going to face this, [they can do] whatever they want to do with me ... we're stepping out for the sake of everybody," Trillanes said. He added that, "You have been witness and victims to this kind of ruthlessness the administration had been giving to the people." "This is not a loss. If anybody lost here, it's the whole nation," he said. Government forces entered the Manila Pen at around 5:14 p.m. Thursday, according to a report aired live over GMA News. A few minutes earlier, at around 5:09 p.m., an armored personnel carrier and two Simba tanks was reported trammethe main entrance, as government forces continued their assault on the hotel that had earlier been taken over by Magdalo troops led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim. This was reported live over GMA News by reporter Michael Fajatin who is on the scene. A few minutes earlier, two civilians who came from inside the hotel were rushed to a governament ambulance, shortly after police and military forces fired tear gas inside the lobby of the hotel. Raffy Tima of GMA News, who witnessed the action, reported live that the civilians were not wounded. The civilians were not identified. A GMA news crew, led by systems engineer Allan Gutierrez, were among the media personnel that remain trapped inside the Manila Peninsula as fumes from tear gas lodged by government forces filled the lobby of the Makati hotel that had earlier been taken over by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. - GMANews.TV