Gregorio Honasan

Gregorio "Gringo" Ballesteros Honasan II ([hoˈnasan], born March 14, 1948), is a Filipino politician and a cashiered Philippine Army officer who led unsuccessful coups d'état against President Corazon Aquino. He played a key role in the 1986 EDSA Revolution that toppled President Ferdinand Marcos, and participated in the EDSA III rallies in 2001 that preceded the May 1 riots near Malacañang Palace. After 1986, he led a series of unsuccessful but violent coup attempts against the administration of Corazon Aquino. President Fidel Ramos granted him amnesty in 1992. He entered politics and became a senator from 1995 to 2004, and again from 2007 to 2019. He ran for vice president of the Philippines, being Jejomar Binay's running-mate in 2016, but both were respectively defeated by Leni Robredo and Rodrigo Duterte. On November 22, 2018, President Duterte appointed then-Senator Honasan as Secretary of Department of Information and Communications Technology, which took effect after the latter's senatorial term, with Eliseo Rio serving as acting secretary. He established much digital policies that helped the Philippine ICT landscape.