Friday, October 31, 2008 Querubin's plea dismissed
THE Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday denied with finality a motion filed by detained marine officer Colonel Ariel Querubin seeking to reverse a court ruling that junked his bid to stop court martial proceedings initiated against him.
The said proceedings are in connection with his role in the foiled February 2006 uprising to overthrow the Arroyo administration.
In a resolution, the Court en banc said Querubin did not raise any new argument that would warrant a reversal or reconsideration of its July 15, 2008 resolution.
Querubin, detained at the Fort San Felipe Detention Center, Naval Base Compound in Sangley Point, Cavite, argued that former Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon's creation of a special general court martial (SGCM) is against the norm and is similar to a "kangaroo court."
The assailed resolution dismissed as "purely speculative" Querubin's argument that respondent Esperon and the SGCM no. 2 be restrained from trying him and the other officers for violations of the Articles of War for mutiny.
The marine officer alleged that he would not get a fair trial from the military as Esperon acted as accuser, prosecutor, and judge in the special general court martial when his role should be limited to just convening it.
But the high court ruled that the charges against Querubin were referred to a general court martial, regardless of the name given to the SGCM no. 2, which the marine officer had questioned.
The SC also pointed out that Esperon had the authority to appoint such a court martial, while a presumption of regularity should be accorded to him and the SGCM no. 2.
"Other officers would prosecute the charges and render the decision in SGCM-2. Petitioner's expectation that the outcome of the court martial will not be in his favor cannot support his claim of bias since prejudice cannot be presumed," the SC said.
Sought for review before the SC was the Court of Appeals' March 23, 2007 decision ruling that the SGCM created by Esperon has legal authority to try him and 29 other junior officers who joined the foiled coup. The same ruling gave Esperon authority to convene a pre-trial investigation panel (PTIP).
The PTIP recommended that the charges against Querubin be dropped, but the Staff Judge Advocate reversed the findings and recommended that Querubin be charged and subjected to a general court martial.
The SC also said even though the PTIP recommended that the charges against Querubin be dropped, its findings were recommendatory and non-binding.
The panel's findings also did not affect the jurisdiction of the court martial, it added. (ECV/Sunnex)
