Friday, July 18, 2008 Honasan to testify on Magdalo coup trial
SENATOR Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan is set to testify for the Magdalo soldiers who were charged with coup d'etat before the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) for staging the short-lived 2003 Oakwood mutiny.
Defense lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. said, aside from Honasan, the rebellious junior officers led by former Navy officer now Senator Antonio Trillanes IV also want the court to summon Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and former Armed Forces chief now Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (Pdea) director Dionisio Santiago to testify on their behalf.
"We have already informed the court of our intention to present Senator Honasan on September 4 while Ermita, Gonzales and Santiago will testify on September 11," Francisco said in an interview after last Thursday's continuation of the coup trial at the sala of Makati RTC Branch 148 Judge Oscar Pimentel.
The lawyer said Honasan will testify on two main points, namely, the National Recovery Program (NRP) and to belie the allegations raised by the authorities that he met with the junior officers prior to the July 27, 2003 takeover of the posh Oakwood Hotel Premiere (now Ascott) to plan a coup against the Arroyo government.
The NRP is Honasan's proposed reform blueprint, which became the bible of the Magdalo Group in staging the Oakwood mutiny.
But Francisco said Honasan's testimony would bolster their case that the NRP is not a blueprint for the overthrow of the government.
"He will testify that the NRP is not and never a plan to take over the government. That it is just an ordinary platform of reform," he said.
As to his alleged meetings with the Magdalo Group, Francisco said the senator says no such meetings or planning ever took place contrary to the allegation raised by the authorities.
Police and military sources said Honasan, a former Army colonel who gained fame for his participation in the 1986 Edsa People Power uprising that toppled the Marcos dictatorship and the subsequent coup attempts in the late 1980s against the Aquino administration, is the "kuya" of the Magdalo soldiers.
The Magdalo soldiers, including Army 1st Lieutenant Lawrence San Juan and Captain Mario Darius Resuelo, directly implicated Honasan in the mutiny saying he attended several meetings where planning for the takeover supposedly take place.
Honasan was originally included in the coup charges but the Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped the charges against him last year citing lack of evidence.
But Francisco refused to say what would be the testimony of Ermita, Gonzales and Santiago except that it would be to clarify "certain matters" related to the case.
Meanwhile, former Armed Forces chief Generoso Senga took the witness stand during Thursday's hearing and testified on the February 2003 Buliok offensive conducted against Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang members in the town of Pikit in North Cotabato Province.
Senga who was the commanding general of the Army's 6th Infantry Division that spearheaded the operations, confirmed the testimonies of other witnesses, namely, former AFP chief Narciso Abaya, former defense chief now Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and former social welfare secretary Corazon Soliman about the offensive.
The defense has argued that the Buliok offensive which resulted in numerous casualties and the displacement of more than 100,000 civilians triggered the Oakwood mutiny. (AH/Sunnex)
