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Thursday, January 19, 2006
4 Oakwood mutineers escape from military jail
By Jonathan F. Fernandez
MANILA -- Four more junior officers who participated in the failed mutiny against the Arroyo administration in July 2003 escaped from their detention cell at the Fort Bonifacio in Makati City late Tuesday night.
A nationwide manhunt was ordered for the immediate recapture of Army First Lieutenants Sonny Sarmiento, Lawrence San Juan, Patricio Bumindang, and Nathaniel Rabonza, who were among 236 members of the Magdalo Group accused of rebellion for seizing the Oakwood Premiere in Makati City and staging a mutiny.
Rabonza is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1995 while San Juan is a member of the PMA Class of 1997. Sarmiento and Bumindang are from the PMA Class of 1998. The escape of the four happened just several hours after Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Oscar Pimentel, who hears the case, ordered a tight watch on them and other mutineers.
Following the escape, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has decided to postpone her Thursday trip to Bicol for security reasons based on the recommendation of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).
President Arroyo was about to inaugurate a newly constructed bridge in Pulangi, Albay. She was also supposed to visit Quirino Highway in Ragay, Camarines Sur, which is under repair, and other infrastructure projects in the region.
Philippine Army (PA) Chief Hermogenes Esperon said the escape of the four soldiers was discovered during a recount of the detainees at 9 p.m. Tuesday. He formed an investigation team that will look into the incident to determine the liability of those responsible for the escape.
Lieutenant General Esperon ordered the relief of Brigadier General Ruben Rafael as camp commander of Fort Bonifacio pending investigation on the prison break. He said Rafael's deputy, Colonel Romeo Fajardo, will take charge of the military camp.
A report said the four scaled the fence of their detention compound using piled up chairs and passed through a window but Esperon refused to confirm how the four escaped as the investigation is still going on.
"We have alerted our men in the military and all police units about the escape and the directive for the arrest of the fugitives. Military and Philippine National Police (PNP) units are now on alert," said Esperon.
He said military and police operatives continue to scour possible areas where the four fugitives have gone.
Esperon also said they have also put up checkpoints in Metro Manila to prevent the four fugitives from leaving the metropolis. Several soldiers and policemen have been deployed to bus terminals, airports, seaports and other possible points of egress where the four soldiers may pass to sneak out, he added.
He also said the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) provided sea marshals in all seaports pictures of the escapees. He said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has expanded its intelligence network to locate the fugitives.
The Army chief blamed the soldiers' lawyer, Ruel Pulido, for the escape, saying it could have been prompted by wrong information given to the four officers that they would be transferred to solitary confinement.
He said had it not been for the alleged "undue interference" of Pulido, the four junior officers could have been promptly transferred to a safer building in the same compound with beautiful beds and a bathroom and where they can go out to talk with one another.
Prior to the escape, Esperon said he had ordered the transfer of the four officers to a separate building inside the camp after receiving reports that they were planning to bolt from prison.
Pulido went to Fort Bonifacio to oppose the plan as it would be done without an order from a Makati City court.
The lawyer argued with Army officials in charge of the detention of his clients that what they were planning to do was illegal. He even threatened to file a complaint against the officials for contempt of court.
The escape brings to five the total number of Oakwood mutineers who have bolted from jail. Marine Captain Nicanor Faeldon, one of the mutineers' leaders, escaped last December 14 "to join the call for a change in government."
Faeldon, who is the subject of a nationwide manhunt by the military and PNP, has allegedly been visiting military and police camps to encourage other soldiers and policemen to support him in bringing down the Arroyo Government.
To avoid another escape among the mutineers, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. said they will ask for a transfer of the remaining Magdalo soldiers to the Makati City jail. He said he will direct a prosecutor assigned to the rebellion case to file a motion before a Makati City court for this purpose.
Gonzalez said regular jails may be better for the mutineers because they seem to be enjoying more freedom in military detention. He believed the escape was planned and could be part of a new destabilization plot against the Arroyo administration. (Sunnex)
(January 19, 2006 issue)
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