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Friday, September 30, 2005
Raps readied v. 2 military men over testimony
By Jonathan F. Fernandez and Marie S. Neri
MANILA -- An Armed Forces official said charges were being prepared against two officers who attended Wednesday's Senate hearing investigating claims that military men helped President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rigged last year's elections.
Brigadier General Jose Angel Honrado, spokesperson for the military, said a case for violating Articles of War 64 or for an act of disobedience charge will be slapped against Brigadier General Francisco Gudani and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Balutan for defying an order from Arroyo, who is the military's Commander-in-Chief, not to appear in the Senate inquiry.
Honrado said the Judge Advocate General's Office (Jago) would be the one to take charge of the case.
Military Chief Generoso Senga ordered court martial proceedings against Gudani and Balutan. He also relieved the two from their present posts as assistant superintendent and assistant commander of the corps of cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), respectively.
The Senate has placed Gudani and Balutan under its custody so that they would not be declared absent without official leave (Awol). The two officers were unavailable for comment as of Thursday on the action of the military hierarchy against them.
President Arroyo had issued on Wednesday Executive Order (EO) 464, which bars all government, military, and police executives from testifying in any Congressional inquiry without her permission.
Malacañang said Arroyo is merely exercising her prerogative to govern the would-be testimonies of a government worker invited as witness or resource person in any Congressional hearing so that the opposition could not use the hearings to get information that would be used against the administration.
They said the move would also help prevent the repeat of what happened to National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales who suffered from hypertension under intense questioning by senators.
The President's allies in the House of Representatives said they see no valid reason why government workers should be barred from testifying in a public hearing.
House Speaker Jose de Venecia said the congressmen respect the right of President Arroyo to decide what to do with her subordinates in the Executive Branch but Congress also has the duty to inform the public on what is going on in government.
He said they would continue to invite government officials and employees to the House investigation as long as their testimonies would help Congress draft an effective law.
De Venecia's position was supported by other administration congressmen like Representatives Prospero Nograles of Davao City, Gerry Salapuddin of Basilan, Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur, Antonio Cuenco of Cebu, and Juan Miguel Zubiri of Bukidnon.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Mehol Sadain, meanwhile, said the Comelec had nothing to do with the relief of Gudani as chief of the 1st Marine Brigade and Task Force Lanao during the May 2004 elections
"There was no request sent to the Comelec regarding the transfer of General Gudani or any military general for that matter and since there was no request, the Comelec had nothing to act on then. We came to know about his relief when he testified before the Senate hearing," he said.
Sadain said assuming that then Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano administered Gudani's transfer, it was a clear violation of election laws.
"The commissioner cannot do the transfer of any member of the Armed Forces (of the Philippines) by his own. It should be approved, as per the law, by the entire Comelec. The matter of assigning or transferring military personnel as well as members of the civil service during election period is not possible," he said.
Gudani earlier claimed that he was relieved from his post so that alleged election cheating would be facilitated in Lanao provinces.
Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., for his part, said they would determine who were involved in the transfer of Gudani.
Abalos said the military general should file charges before the Comelec against those involved in his relief. He added that even the immediate superior of Gudani would also be held liable if it is proved that the transfer was illegal.
He said they may not conduct an investigation on Gudani's statement because "all he revealed in the Senate inquiry were based on hearsay which could not be used as evidence in court." (Sunnex)
(September 30, 2005 issue)
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