Friday, May 05, 2006
Palace not sorry for 'unlawful acts' during emergency rule
MANILA -- Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said that any apologies to parties supposedly offended during the implementation of Proclamation 1017 "is premature" as an appeal is to be filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
Bunye, who is also Presidential spokesman, said they are leaving it up to Solicitor General Antonio Eduardo Nachura to finalize the details and file the appeal.
The Supreme Court (SC) earlier upheld Proclamation 1017 but declared as unconstitutional the warrantless arrests and raids, including the one on the offices of The Daily Tribune newspaper, and the suppression of protest rallies.
Bunye declined to comment on the possible withdrawal of the rebellion cases against the six party-list representatives who were charged for allegedly planning to topple the administration that led to the presidential declaration last February 24.
However, Judge Jenny Lind Aldecoa-Delorino of the Makati City Regional Trial Court rejected an amended complaint by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that sought to include Representative Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño, Joel Virador, Liza Maza, and Rafael Mariano in a rebellion case the DOJ had filed in her sala against another party-list legislator, Crispin Beltran, and 1st Lieutenant Lawrence San Juan.
The DOJ should have submitted a new complaint instead of the amended information, Delorino said.
She also said there was no cause for her to issue a warrant of arrest against the five lawmakers since the amended information was never admitted in her court.
Solicitor General Nachura, meanwhile, said the government is prepared to face any charges that may arise from the SC decision on Proclamation 1017.
However, Nachura said the SC decision is not a complete victory for the opposition nor is it against the administration as it still recognized the action of the President as legal.
Niñez Cacho-Oivares, publisher of the Daily Tribune, said she would look into the possible filing of charges against Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and other officials.
The PNP, for its part, said it was just following orders issued by Malacañang when it carried out warrantless arrests and raids while the country was under a state of emergency last February.
Senior Supt. Samuel Pagdilao, PNP spokesman, said their actions were guided by General Orders 5 (GOs) and 6, which tasked the police and the military establishments to suppress terrorism and lawlessness at that time.
The two general orders were issued by Malacañang as a supplement to Presidential Proclamation 1017 that placed the country under a state of emergency last February 24 to March 3 following an aborted coup attempt.
Opposition congressmen said the recent decision of the SC motivated them to file another impeachment case against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. (Sunnex)
(May 5, 2006 issue)
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