Tuesday, November 14, 2006 Coup plotters note 'defects' in rebellion case
MILITARY and police officials as well as civilians facing rebellion charges before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday raised "technical and substantial issues" in the complaint filed by the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
Indicted were former members and officers of the Armed Forces and police, politicians, former government officials, militant group leaders and members and other civilians who allegedly conspired to unseat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through an armed uprising last February 24.
At the first day of the preliminary investigation, the counsels for the respondents moved for the termination of the proceedings saying there was no formal complaint-affidavit but only mere referral-letters.
They further said the complaints were not subscribed to by CIDG Chief Danilo Verzosa and National Bureau of Investigation-National Capital Region (NBI-NCR) Director Reynaldo Esmeralda thus they are not valid.
Attorney Virgilio Pablico, PNP chief legal officer, said Versoza was in Abu Dhabi while Esmeralda was in the US facilitating the extradition of Charlie "Atong" Ang at the time of the filing of the complaint.
Senior State Prosecutor Dina Perez, head of the DOJ panel hearing the rebellion case however denied the motion saying that the assigned technicality could be easily remedied.
The panel agreed with the argument of the complainants' lawyer that other witnesses' affidavits may suffice and qualify as complaint affidavits such as that of Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon.
Prosecutors also gave Esmeralda and Verzosa five working days or until Monday next week to subscribe the affidavits.
On the allegations of respondents that the report was grounded on mere hearsay evidence, the panel said they will rule on the basis of evidence presented by the complainants, including the affidavits of witnesses like 1st Lieutenants Patricio Bumidang and Lawrence San Juan.
Bumidang and San Juan were previously charged with the same case and are also facing coup charges in connection with the July 27, 2003 Oakwood mutiny but they have since returned to the folds of the law and offered to tell all on military officers who had plotted Arroyo's ouster.
Rebellion charges were filed by the NBI and the CIDG last October 13 against more than 50 individuals, including former senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, in connection with the foiled February 24 coup attempt.
Honasan, who is still at large, is already facing another rebellion case in connection with the July 27, 2003 Oakwood mutiny. He has a P5 million reward for his capture.
Also named respondents were Major General Renato Miranda; Brigadier General Danilo Lim; Colonel Ariel Querubin, commandant of Philippine Marine Corps; Colonels Orlando De Leon and Januario Caringal; Lieutenant Colonels Armando Banez, Custodio Parcon, Achielles Segumalian, Nestor Flordeliza, Edmundo
Malabanjot; Majors Jason Laureano, Jose Leomar Doctolero and Oriel Pangcog; Captains James Sababan, Dante Langkit; 1st Lieutenants Angelbert Gay, Sonny Sarmiento, Lawrence San Juan and Patricio Bumidang; 2nd Lieutenant Aldrin Baldonado; and other unidentified military officers.
Also charged were Police Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco and Senior Superintendent Benjamin Magalong and still unnamed police officers; Council of Philippine Affairs (COPA) convenor Pastor "Boy" Saycon, former ambassador Roy Seneres; businessmen identified with an alias Don Pepe Araneta; Jaime Regalario alias Jimmy/Juliet; Lawyers Roberto Rafael Pulido and Christopher Belmonte; Cristina Antonio alias Friday; Betina Balderama alias Angie; Michael Yangson; Renato Constantino; Mauie Constantino; former University of the Philippines (UP) President Francisco "Dodong" Nemenzo; Jess Fernandez alias Sy; Allan Paje; Jay Malajacan alias Jamaal; Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) leaders and members Prudencio Calubid alias Ka Pablo, Leo Velasco alias Ka Eli, Edilberto Silva alias Ka Jess, Tirso Alcantara alias Ka Bart and several unidentified persons.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Reynaldo Cabauatan; Navy Captain Felix Turingan; Colonel Jake Malajacan, Rafael Galvez, Mel Acosta; Chief Superintendent Victor Batac and other still unidentified former military and police officers;
Among those who attended Monday's preliminary investigation were Miranda, Querubin, and Nemenzo.
Interviewed after the hearing, Nemenzo, who is also president of the Laban ng Masa, a coalition of non-government organizations, branded as "mere political harassment" the complaint of the NBI and police. "This is a badly drafted complaint. To start with, they do not even know my real name, out of good faith I appeared. I could have stayed away kasi (because) I did not know anybody named 'Prudencio' Nemenzo. This is not really a legal case. This is a political case, this is a case of political harassment and we are going to respond to this in that manner," he said.
Miranda lamented that he was merely trying to pacify seeming restiveness in the military but he ended up being charged with rebellion by the government instead.
"Actually, that is one reason why we are here, I tried and attempted to attend the seeming restiveness. Right now I do not know exactly because I am in confinement right now," he told reporters.
He said he believed with the position of outgoing Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz that the military should not meddle in political affairs, especially in the upcoming elections.
"I'm not in a position to give advice. But if taken from somebody who is old in the service, I think the advice is not new. That was given already by former Secretary Cruz, that the military should not be involved anymore in any political activity," he said.
He maintained his stance that he did not conspire with any of his co-accused in the rebellion case.
Outside the DOJ, police cordoned both sides of Padre Faura street from rallyists denouncing what they called the fascist regime of President Arroyo.
Akbayan members and other youth groups convened at the Plaza Salamanca at the corner of Taft Avenue corner T.M. Kalaw Street as early as 8:30 a.m. then marching on to Padre Faura Street, However they were blocked by anti-riot policemen armed with truncheons and shields.
Several protesters tried to pass through the Maria Orosa exit but they were stopped by at least four Marine armored personnel carriers (APCs). In the end, protesting UP students decided to rally at the back of the campus beside the Philippine General Hospital and just across the DOJ gate.
In a statement of the Office of the UP Faculty Regent Roland Simbulan, he said the charges against Nemenzo and his co-accused "only manifest the desperation of the illegal occupant in Malacaņang who is now retaliating against leaders of the broad opposition."
"The charges of rebellion against our UP colleague Nemenzo and 40 others are an attempt to crack down on dissent and to silence the legal opposition," Simbulan said.
Based on the complaint of the NBI and PNP, members of the Makabayang Kawal ng Pilipinas (MKP), Para sa Bayan (PSB) headed by Lim and Querubin, the triumvirate of Honasan, Malajacan and Turingan joined the group of Belmonte and Antonio, who are known members of the CPP-NPA has formed a tactical alliance with the rebel soldiers to overthrow the Arroyo administration.
As early as December 2004, the group of Lim and Querubin, retired military officials and their counterparts in the CPP started recruiting members for the rebel group called Makabayang Kawal Pilipinas (MKP-I) for the active junior military members and Mamamayang Kaisa sa Pagbabago (MKP-II) for the civilian and they were issued dog tags with inscriptions of their flag and their motto "Pero Deo, Pro Patria, Et Populi."
The recruits came mostly from the ranks of the Philippine Marine Corps, the First Scout Ranger and the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) headed by Franco and Magalong. They were also made to undergo rituals of signing their oath marked with their own blood.
"The groups of (former) Senator Honasan, Malajacan, Turingan, Lim, Querubin, Sarmiento, Gay, Baldonado and some military officers frequently attended meetings held in Century Park Hotel in Manila and at Aberdeen Court Hotel in Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. In all those meetings, Belmonte, Pulido and Antonio were always present," Esmeralda said.
In one of those meetings at the Aberdeen, they talked with student council officers from the UP and Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP)
and most of the students belong to the Reaffirmist of the CPP-NPA-National Democratic Front (NDF).
Esmeralda said in another meeting inside the Aberdeen, they talked to the leaders of organizations under the rejectionist group of CPP-NPA.
On February 24, the MKP, armed with high-powered firearms provided by Belmonte, were at the house of Constantino in Quezon City waiting for the withdrawal of support to be announced by Lim and Querubin.
This group was also at the same house during the Marine stand-off last February 26 while several personnel of the 7th and 9th Scout Ranger Companies stationed in Barangay Anisalg, Daraga, Albay and Barangay Carayrayan, Tiwi, Albay, respectively, moved towards Manila, but some of those who moved from 7th Scout Ranger Companies were apprehended at a checkpoint in Sipocot, Camarines Sur.
The civilians who responded to Querubin's call for power were prominent anti-government opposition personalities led by former President Corazon Aquino' former Vice President Teofisto Guingona' Senators Rodolfo Biazon, Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., Sergio Osmeņa III and Panfilo Lacson; former senator Loren Legarda; Representatives Benigno Aquino III and Ma. Imelda "Imee" Marcos; Bishop Teodoro Bacani; Brother Armin Luistro, president of the De La Salle
University; lawyers Eli Pamatong, Argee Guevarra and others.
Esmeralda took note of the affidavit of San Juan, who affirmed in his affidavit that there is indeed a tactical alliance between the MKP and the CPP-NPA.
The NBI report further cited the article written by Time magazine correspondent Nelly Sindayen posted on the Internet last March 6, wherein she wrote that Saycon and a dozen other businessmen and politicians were present at the home of former Tarlac congressman Jose "Peping" Cojuangco in Makati City where alleged plans were hatched for the withdrawal of support from Arroyo.
He said Saycon also phoned someone called Delta but was later identified as General Lim and over the speakerphone, Lim said it was "all systems go" and that a military contingent would march to a shrine in Manila where the 20th year anniversary of the People Power revolution was to be celebrated.
"There, the military man would meet a group of Catholic bishops, and a Philippine Marine Officer would read a statement withdrawing support from the government. The bishops made one request: that the coup be bloodless. Nelly Sindayen, in her affidavit submitted to the NBI, stands by her article," Esmeralda said.
Esmeralda said in a newspaper interview, Seneres affirmed his affidavit submitted before the NBI admitted that he encouraged Lim to withdraw support from Arroyo.
He said Seņeres also named other prominent personalities alleged involved in the last February coup plot, namely Orbos, former Defense Secretary Renato de Villa, ABC-5 chairman Antonio "Tony Boy" Cojuangco, construction magnate Felipe Cruz, Jr and businessman Iņigo Zobel.
Esmeralda said San Juan and Bumidang have volunteered to cooperate in the investigation and the prosecution of the cases. They are also being recommended to be discharged as state witnesses and be covered by the Witness Protection Program of the DOJ. (ECV/Sunnex)
