Oakwood mutiny

On July 27, 2003, the Oakwood mutiny was led by a group of about 300 armed defectors from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) led by Army Capt. Gerardo Gambala and Navy Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV against the Arroyo administration. The group forcibly seized and occupied Oakwood Premier in Glorietta, Makati, for almost 20 hours. They expressed grievances against the government's supervision of the military, and demanded the resignation of Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, PNP Chief Hermogenes Ebdane, and AFP Chief of Intelligence Service Victor Corpus; they also aired their grievances against the military establishment and anomalies on the AFP. The mutiny was covered heavily by the local press, with ABS-CBN News writer Joel Saracho dubbing the group "Magdalo" in reference to their insignia, mistakenly assuming it referred to the Magdalo faction of the Katipunan during the Philippine Revolution, despite the group officially calling themselves "Bagong Katipuneros" (transl. New Katipuneros). The mutiny ended after the government successfully negotiated with the group. Several prominent participants of the mutiny, including Trillanes and Gambala, were later charged.

An official investigation was launched afterwards. A final report released in October of the same year identified the mutiny leaders, as well as underscoring the need for the modernization of the AFP. While detained, Trillanes wrote a thesis in 2004 on how to prevent future military interventions based on his analysis of Arroyo administration policies. He later ran and won a seat for senator in the 2007 elections under the Genuine Opposition coalition, despite being in prison. He attempted another mutiny against Arroyo in 2007, but it also failed. He was later released in 2010 following an executive order issued by Arroyo. Meanwhile, Gambala and eight other rebel officials were later given a presidential pardon in 2008 upon their admission of guilt. They were discharged from military service after pleading guilty on the military tribunal.