Mutiny charges against 16 officers recommended dropped

MUTINY CHARGES against more than half of the military officers involved in a 2006 plot to oust the government were recommended dropped for lack of evidence.

Military prosecutors told a court martial yesterday that they have recommended to military chief Gen. Alexander B. Yano the dropping of charges against 16 of the 28 military officers who tried to overthrow the Arroyo administration in February 2006.

Court martial proceedings are being held against the military officers headed by former Marine commander Ma. Gen. Renato P. Miranda and former Army Scout Ranger chief Brig. Gen. Danilo P. Lim.

Col. Feliciano Loy, head of the military prosecution panel, said the letter of recommendation to Mr. Yano "was returned without taking any action. It was neither denied nor approved."

He stopped short of disclosing the names of officials recommended for deletion from the charge list.

Mr. Yano has the authority to convene or dismiss court martial proceedings.

Trixie Angeles, lawyer for Maj. Jason Aquino, one of the accused, and collaborating counsel for Mr. Miranda, said the mutiny charges against all officials should be dismissed based on the prosecution’s admission of lack of evidence to pursue the charges.

Other defense lawyers also asked the court martial president, Maj. Gen. Jogy Leo Fojas, to direct Mr. Loy to furnish them a copy of the letter to Mr. Yano.

Mr. Loy, however, said the letter was a "personal communication between me and general Yano."

Col. Marian Aleido, a member of the court, said: "We could not grant the oral pleading to dismiss the case because we have not heard yet the evidence of the prosecution."

Mr. Loy said other evidences can be presented against the accused.

The 28 officers remain in detention pending the resolution of mutiny charges. The next hearing was set for Nov. 5.

Trillanes seeks dismissal of hotel siege case

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and his co-accused asked a Makati court yesterday to dismiss the rebellion charges against them, claiming government prosecutors violated their constitutional rights against double jeopardy.

Trillanes and 12 Magdalo rebel soldiers are facing charges of rebellion for their alleged participation in the standoff at the Peninsula Manila hotel in Makati last November.

The case is being heard by Judge Elmo Alameda of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150.
Trillanes’ lawyer, Ernesto Francisco Jr., said the Constitution mandates that no person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment for the same offense.

“For double jeopardy to set in, the following requisites must concur – there is a valid complaint or information; the complaint should be filed before a court of competent jurisdiction; the accused has pleaded to the charge; and the accused has been convicted, acquitted, or the case has been dismissed or terminated without the express consent of the accused,” he said.

Francisco said tomorrow’s scheduled pre-trial conference should be cancelled so he filed a motion to quash the charges against three new respondents in the case on grounds that the prosecution’s claim that they had undergone preliminary investigation is false.

Francisco said the prosecution made the mistake of submitting a third amended information six months after the original charges were filed and three months after his clients underwent arraignment.

Francisco said Trillanes and his co-accused were charged and arraigned under an amended information dated Dec. 2, 2007, which was edited when another amended information was filed last June because three more respondents were added.

Francisco said the third amended information is “an entirely new and different information,” which charged his clients for the same offense of rebellion.

“Thus, the withdrawal of the amended information, dated Dec. 2, 2007 under which the accused were arraigned without their express consent (because they refused to enter a plea) and the filing of the new third amended information, dated June 18, 2008, which charges the said accused for the same offense of rebellion, have placed the said accused in double jeopardy,” he said.

In withdrawing the Dec. 2, 2007 information by filing that which was dated June 18, the prosecution did not get the consent of the accused, which is a requirement under the rules, he added.

In response, Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco said the prosecution did not violate the rules on double jeopardy because the amended information only meant to add more respondents to the case.

“There is no double jeopardy there because when we filed it, they were notified,” he said. “They were given the time to comment. It was not a substantial amendment, just inclusion of three more accused. A very important factor there is that when we filed that amended information, they were duly notified. Therefore, there was no violation of the due process clause.” – Michael Punongbayan

A continuing unjust detention

The Marine and Scout Ranger officers should not have been detained.

The 40 enlisted men should not have been detained then arbitrarily dismissed.

A great injustice has been perpetrated and continues to be inflicted on the officers and men of the Marines and Scout Rangers detained allegedly for the February 2006 incident. The prosecution has not come up with any evidence that will sustain a finding of probable cause, much less a finding of guilt. And yet we were jailed.

The Pre-trial Investigation Report, which found no commission of the crime of mutiny, was arbitrarily overturned by then Gen. Hermogenes Esperon. His actions deprived us of our freedoms, de-railed our careers and denied our families of our company. Yet, as we have said before, our detention and continued incarceration clearly appears to have been the result of one man’s whims backed by his patrons in the administration and surprisingly continued by an AFP leadership that appears to be not much different from the previous one.

There was no mutiny. Yet Esperon, and his ilk have demanded that we go to trial. The current AFP leadership continues this oppressive policy, despite the fact that they are by now aware of the lack of basis for our continued incarceration.

Very well, if there must be a trial, I am willing to submit myself to the process. In so doing, I am willing to stand for trial in the stead of my more junior Marine officers. Gen. Danilo Lim has also expressed the sentiment that he is willing to do the same, in the stead of his junior Scout Ranger officers. This is command responsibility, which Gen, Lim and I have always been willing to undertake.

We take full responsibility for the actions of our men.

Let our men go, reinstate the unjustly dismissed enlisted men and let justice prevail.

MAJOR GENERAL RENATO P. MIRANDA, PN (M)

Gen. Miranda hits AFP top brass for continuing 'oppression'

MARK MERUEñAS, GMANews.TV

10/09/2008 | 11:50 AM

MANILA, Philippines - One of the 28 military officers detained in connection with the alleged February 2006 coup on Thursday scored the current Armed Forces leadership for the "oppression" still being inflicted on them.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, former Marine commandant, said the AFP leadership under General Alexander Yano has done nothing to help them despite the prosecution’s failure to present evidence against them.

"The current AFP leadership continues this oppressive policy, despite the fact that they are by now aware of the lack of basis for our continued incarceration," Miranda said.

Miranda is the highest ranking officer in detention followed by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, former commander of the elite First Scout Ranger Regiment.

The 28 Army and Marine officers were earlier slapped with several charges but all, except for Articles of War 67 or mutiny, were later dropped after the two-year prescribed period expired.

In addition to the officers, 40 enlisted men were held by in connection with the alleged power grab. Though no charges were officially filed against them, all were dismissed from the service.

A pretrial investigation had initially cleared all the accused officers but former Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon overturned the decision.

"As we have said before, our detention and continued incarceration clearly appears to have been the result of one man’s whims backed by his patrons in the administration," Miranda said.

"[Esperon’s] actions deprived us of our freedoms, de-railed our careers and denied our families of our company," Miranda said. Incidentally, Miranda and Esperon are both members of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1974.

Miranda said they had hoped to finally find some relief after Esperon left the top military post and became presidential adviser on the peace process. However, the detained officer lamented how the leadership of Esperon’s successor, Yano, was no different.

"Our detention and continued incarceration clearly appears to have been the result of one man’s whims backed by his patrons in the administration and surprisingly continued by an AFP leadership that appears to be not much different from the previous one," he said.

To begin with, he and his 27 fellow officers and 40 enlisted men soul d not have been sent behind bars due to the prosecution’s failure to list any evidence that could prove their guilt, according to Miranda.

"The prosecution has not come up with any evidence that will sustain a finding of probable cause, much less a finding of guilt. And yet we were jailed," he said, adding their detention was “unjust."

Miranda also insisted there was no mutiny and expressed willingness for him and Lim to go on trial on behalf of all the other officers under them.

Miranda said under direct responsibility, the two of them are responsible for the actions of all their subordinates.

"Let our men go, reinstate the unjustly dismissed enlisted men and let justice prevail," he ended. - GMANews.TV