Archive for March 6th, 2007
AFP to probe only electioneering, not harassment in Metro
By Joel Guinto
MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will investigate troops deployed in depressed Metro Manila communities only on charges of electioneering, not allegations of harassment and abuse, the commander of military forces in the capital said.
National Capital Region Command (NCRCom) chief Major General Ben Mohammad Dolorfino explained that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) sought his explanation only on allegations the troops were campaigning against left-wing party list groups.
He said allegations of abuse were not brought up.
“Our investigators have been deployed to the communities today [Tuesday]. We will focus on the electioneering [charges],” Dolorfino said in a phone interview. “They will ask residents if soldiers have been campaigning against these militants.”
Asked if allegations by party-list groups that their members and supporters are being harassed and threatened would be investigated, Dolorfino said: “Walang ganun [There is nothing like that]. The Comelec did not ask us.”
Dolorfino said the investigation would run for a week, after which the NCRCom would submit its response to the Comelec.
Meantime, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro maintained that local officials requested for the deployment of troops to the depressed communities. He said the troops are newly-trained second lieutenants awaiting deployment to peacekeeping missions abroad.
“We see nothing wrong with this [deployment]. We achieve the academic objectives [for the new soldiers] and at the same time, we deliver services to the grassroots,” Bacarro said.
“We will continue [with the deployment]. Like I said, the training cycle [for soldiers] is a continuing process. Unless of course the Comelec orders us to stop doing it,” he added.
Bacarro admitted that the humanitarian component of the deployment has not started. He also could not say when it would start.
“We will inform you when [the humanitarian missions] will start, but definitely, there will be,” he said.
View article as posted on INQUIRER.net
Ex-comrades in 2003 mutiny trade barbs at coup hearing
By Joel Guinto
MANILA, Philippines — (UPDATE) Two former comrades in a short-lived military mutiny four years ago have become enemies as they traded barbs Tuesday during a hearing of their coup d’etat case before a local court.
Showing his displeasure over Army First Lieutenant Lawrence San Juan’s decision to plead guilty to a lesser charge at the Makati regional trial court, Navy Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes IV was overheard as saying, “Sana solohin mo na lang yang desisyon [I hope he decides only for himself]. Don’t implicate us.”
San Juan countered: “Sasarilihin ko naman [I will do this on my own].”
Pointing at Trillanes, San Juan also said, “Yan ba ang ugali ng senador? [Is that the way a senator should act?]“
Trillanes is running for senator under the opposition banner in the May midterm elections.
San Juan has since apologized to the government over a shortlived mutiny in July 2003, which he and Trillanes allegedly led.
Earlier on Tuesday, San Juan told Judge Oscar Pimentel of Branch 148 of the Makati RTC that he was pleading guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit coup d’etat but maintained his not guilty plea on the charge of coup d’etat, a capital offense.
The two junior officers were brought to waiting vehicles outside the courtroom and were returned to their detention cells in Fort Bonifacio after the heated exchange.
Another mutineer who was also present at Tuesday’s hearing, Marine Captain Nicanor Faeldon, was less confrontational when asked about San Juan’s offer of a guilty plea.
“I have no right to tell anyone how to live his life. So I respect his decision. But that will not mean that I agree with him,” Faeldon said in a statement.
Faeldon also played down the effects of San Juan’s turnaround on his co-accused.
“As to the effect of this on our case, let the court determine that. I do not want to preempt the proceedings,” he said.
View article as posted on INQUIRER.net
Alleged mutiny leader protests tight security
By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — (UPDATE) Navy Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes IV, who is running for the Senate in the May midterm elections, has decried the tightened security in his detention cell at Fort Bonifacio although the military has claimed that this was “nothing new.”
“Yes, apparently, some misguided leaders in the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] actually believe that the results of this coming elections is in their hands,” Trillanes said, when asked if he considered the restrictions as harassment.
“At some point, they should accept the fact that eventually, voters would decide my fate,” he said in a statement released during a hearing on his coup d’etat case at the Makati City regional trial court on Tuesday.
Trillanes claimed that his visitors were being submitted to stricter inspection since last week, three weeks after the official campaign period for the senatorial candidates had started.
Trillanes’ spokesman Ronaldo Averilla said visiting hours have been restricted to between 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. He said visitors wearing campaign t-shirts and vehicles with Magdalo insignia stickers were barred from entering the Philippine Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio.
Magdalo is the name adopted by the band of 300 junior officers and enlisted men, including Trillanes, which had seized the Oakwood luxury apartments in July 2003 to protest alleged corruption in government. Trillanes served as the group’s spokesman.
Sought for comment, Marine spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan said the restrictions on Trillanes were “nothing new.”
“The restrictions were there before. He can’t have special privileges just because he is running for the Senate,” Caculitan said in a phone interview.
Caculitan said campaign materials had been banned inside the camp pursuant to the order of Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
“We are not targeting him, it’s just that political campaigns are banned inside our camp,” the spokesman said.
Trillanes also acknowledged that his campaign, which Averilla had been overseeing, was doing “relatively okay” despite the dearth in funding.
“We may be lacking funds and resources but so far, we are not lacking the support of the people,” he said.
Asked if his involvement in the mutiny would go against him in the campaign, Trillanes said: “It’s neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. Everything boils down to who I am as a person and what I can do for this country.”
Trillanes was evasive when asked if he wished that ex-senator Gregorio
Honasan would win in the May elections.
“I only wish that the voter can see through the glitz and glamour of the campaign and actually scrutinize individual character and potential of every candidate,” he said.
Like Trillanes, Honasan is also facing coup d’etat charges. The former senator, who is detained at a police camp in Laguna province, was also implicated in the failed February 2006 coup.
View article as posted on INQUIRER.net
Here is a video clip of Trillanes co-accused leaving the court after their coup d’etat hearing in Makati City
Mutineer offers to plead guilty to lesser charge
Move seen as quid pro quo for dropping coup rap
MANILA, Philippines — Army First Lieutenant Lawrence San Juan has offered a guilty plea to a lesser charge before a local court Tuesday over his involvement in a short-lived mutiny four years ago, sparking talk that he would turn against his former comrades.
San Juan, through his lawyer Paolo Primavera, asked Judge Oscar Pimentel of Branch 148 of the Makati regional trial court to allow him to plead guilty to the charge of conspiring to commit coup d’etat.
San Juan’s move came months after he apologized to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the military leadership for his involvement in the uprising at the posh Oakwood Apartments on July 27, 2003.
San Juan had also issued an affidavit implicating several personalities in the failed February 2006 coup.
Pimentel told Primavera to put San Juan’s petition into writing, adding that, “The court has the right whether or not to accept [his petition].”
If the court allows San Juan to plead guilty to conspiring to commit coup d’etat, this will in effect lead to the dropping of the coup d’etat charge, a capital offense, against him, said Reynaldo Robles, lawyer for Navy Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes IV, a co-accused in the case.
Conspiring to commit coup d’etat is a relatively minor offense, punishable by six years and one day to 12 years imprisonment, Robles said.
San Juan and his lawyer declined further comment when pressed by reporters after the hearing. The court is set to hear evidence from the defense panel after the prosecution rested its case last year.
Robles said he would oppose San Juan’s move, which he claimed would be tantamount to a plea bargain.
“It’s highly irregular. We will oppose this. First, it is out of time, second, it is highly irregular,” Robles said.
Robles said plea bargains should have been made before the prosecution rested its case.
San Juan reaffirmed his allegiance to the government in July 2006, five months after he was recaptured in Padre Garcia town, Batangas province after allegedly meeting with communist rebels to bring down government.
San Juan escaped from Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio in January 2006, with First Lieutenants Sonny Sarmiento, Nathaniel Rabonza, and Patricio Bumidang Jr.
Sarmiento, Rabonza, and Bumidang were arrested at a Quezon City safe house a week before San Juan’s turnaround with three other suspected mutineers — Army Second Lieutenants Angelbert Gay and Aldrin Baldonado, and Navy Lieutenant Kiram Sadava.
View article as posted on INQUIRER.net
