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Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Justice vows 'fair' probe of newspaper publisher, 2 columnists
JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. on Mondayday assured Daily Tribune publisher Niñez Cacho-Olivares that she will be accorded due process in the investigation of the inciting to sedition charges against her and two of the paper's columnists.
In a briefing, Gonzalez said the complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) against Olivares, Herman Tiu Laurel and former ambassador Roy Seneres will be investigated and reviewed by prosecutors in connection with the alleged plot to overthrow the Arroyo administration last February 24.
"That will be properly investigated. She will be accorded due process. She knows the process, she has been facing a lot of libel cases here," he said.
Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco, who heads the Special Task Force on Rebellion, said in a separate interview that they will determine if there is sufficient ground in the complaint to warrant the conduct of a preliminary investigation.
"If there is sufficient evidence, then we will issue subpoenas," Velasco said.
Meanwhile the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has issued a subpoena to Brigadier General Danilo Lim, an army officer and founder of the Young Officers Union who allegedly plotted the failed coup attempt last February 24, to appear on Wednesday to shed light in its investigation of a Time magazine article that exposed the alleged coup plot.
The NBI also invited for questioning Time correspondent in the Philippines, Nelly Sindayen, but her editor has written NBI special task force chief Reynaldo Esmeralda that they will still consider the invitation of the bureau.
Gonzalez said destabilization attempts will not stop unless the Constitution is amended to give way to a new form of government.
"I personally don't believe that these things will ease until the next impeachment. It will just ease after Charter change has already effectively established a new form of government," he said.
Earlier, he admitted that monitoring of media networks and personalities would continue despite the lifting of Proclamation 1017, which put the country under a state of emergency.
He said that government will continue to monitor television footages, news clippings, and columns to make sure that these would not be used to encourage people to go against the government. (ECV/Sunnex)
(March 7, 2006 issue)
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