Victor Reyes report for Malaya:
Court martial proceedings against dozens of officers linked to last year’s alleged plot to overthrow the Arroyo government failed to move anew yesterday due to a number of issues, including access by the defense to a pretrial investigation (PTI) report which cleared the accused.
Defense lawyer Abraham Espejo immediately revived the issue on the controversial report shortly after the court convened for the second time since Dec. 14 at the headquarters of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.
Espejo, who represents Scout Ranger Lt. Cols. Edmundo Malabanjot and Nestor Flordeliza, protested the refusal of the prosecution panel to furnish them with a copy of the PTI report.
The report, prepared by Col. Al Perreras, cleared all the accused of the mutiny charges. AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. ignored the report and ordered the convening of the court martial in November.
During the last hearing, the prosecution panel assured the defense counsels that they would be given copies of the report. Espejo said the prosecution failed to keep its promise.
“Please direct the TJA (trial judge advocate Col. Ukol Paglala) to furnish us with the PTI report,” Espejo asked the court presided by Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, commander of the Southern Luzon Command.
Other defense lawyers, including Homobono Adaza and Frank Chavez, joined the debate to pressure Paglala and prosecution panel to furnish them a copy of the report, which they said was necessary in coming up with their defense.
When Paglala informed the court that the defense would be given copies of the PTI report in due time, Chavez said: “We want it here and now. We do not have the luxury of time. Our clients are detained.”
“The charges have disrupted the rhythm of their lives…I invoke the Constitution, that they be furnished with the PTI report…because that is part of the due process,” said Chavez, who represents former Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda.
Chavez said Esperon’s reversal of the pretrial investigation panel recommendation is a “gross exercise of discretion.” The lawyer also said: “This panel is illegally constituted in form and in structure.”
Vicente Verdadero, counsel for former Scout Ranger chief Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, chided the prosecution panel for apparently disowning responsibility in furnishing them copies of the PTI report.
“That is your job, why are you passing it to the court. Why can’t you furnish us with the report?” he asked.
Adaza, counsel for Marine Col. Ariel Querubin, also renewed questions on the legality of the court, saying Esperon, in ordering the convening of the court, has become the convening authority, the prosecutor, and the reviewing authority.
Esperon earlier volunteered to become a witness for the prosecution, saying his testimony is vital to the case. But the AFP chief later said he was inhibiting himself as a witness for the prosecution.
Adaza said the court should dissolve itself because it is “illegally constituted.”
Adaza also said Esperon, who has taken interest on the case, “should go to the President and ask the President to create a court martial she desires.”
Vicente Millora, counsel for 1Lt. Jacon Cordero, protested what he described as “farcical” proceedings. He later withdrew his appearance for the junior officer and excused himself from the proceedings.
“We are fooling the respondents, we are fooling ourselves…We should stop the farcical proceedings and stop the mockery of justice,” said Millora, a former Integrated Bar of the Philippines president and Pangasinan assemblyman.
The tribunal later asked Cordero if he was availing of a military counsel in the absence of his counsel of choice and he declined. he said, he is going to get his own private counsel. – Victor Reyes
Refusing to release the pre-trial investigation to the defence?
Why is Esperon SO SCARED of as in duwag scared?
Where again did he get his rank of general? From a bubble gum wrapper?
Fake commande in chief, fake rank, fake court martial.
In reality, only General Lim has a genuine military general rank among the leaders of the AFP today. All theothers obtained their stars by means of barter.
Puwede ba ‘yon? Anong klaseng military yan?
Fake 4-star General, Almoranas Esperon, Chief of Staff Armed Forces of the Bastusan Republic and concurrent Chief Body Guard, Gloria Makapa(l)gal-Arroyo.
Unbelievable indeed! In more civilized societies like Japan, this kind of gross negligence by the Prosecutor’s Office can mean dismissal of a case, but then, of course, Japan is not the Philippines, and vice-versa.
At least, over in the Land of the Risin Sun, politicians cannot abuse, and when they are scandalized and exposed the way the crooks in the Philippines are exposed, they voluntarily quit, and hang themselves or jump to their death from tall buildings even just to save face.
That way, they save the taxpayers from paying what can be more expensive court proceedings. At least, over here, we know for sure that the court cannot be bribed nor be dictated upon because our judiciary is free from the dictates of politicians even when the Ministry of Justice is headed by a political appointee, who is under the scrutiny all the time of the public and the bureaucrats, who get their positions by taking civil service exams and do not kowtow to the politicians.
The Philippines, in fact, should have developed the same as Japan under the tutelage of Uncle Sam. The Americans actually framed the pacifist Japanese Constitution that Japanese nationalists must have resented but decided to diligently abide by and Japanize it! If that is not being wise, what is?
Filipinos should demand for dismissal of the cases against the brave members of the AFP who refuse to take orders from a bogus president. The creep should be the one facing the court for fraud, plunder, vote-rigging, and other crimes committed against the people of the Republic of the Philippines together with Davide, her husband, members of the AFP, et al, who helped her grab the presidency from the duly elected president, whose impeachment the Filipinos did not even have the chance to see how it would work in what is supposed to be democratic Philippines. That alone, in fact, constituted a crime called “treason sedition.”
PATALSIKIN NA, NOW NA!
I’ll write about the trial on Monday.
Funny because during the break, Col. Orlando de Leon and Col. Archie Segumalian joked, “Ellen, why don’t you give the panel your copy of the PTI?”
This blog made public the PTI report.
Yuko,
Matter of fact, the military procedures are SO MUCH SIMPLER than civilian procedures.
They are clear-cut in the military.
Often, it’s just black and white.
The problem is it’s this fake 4-star who styles himself general is intepreting the procedures and because he was probably hazed and bullied and beaten on the head, made to carry the world exercise several times over, his brain became a pulp.
There are clear cut procedures – a court martial is the best venue for everybody but because this sexless Esperon is so DUWAG, he’s afraid to hold it before the mid-term elections!
“Carry the world” is a brutal punishment exercise by upperclass men on lower class men in the PMA!
Siguro dahil sa punishment na yan noong kadete si Esperon, naging LUGAW iyong utak ng tang&çàèç(àè&à iyan!
Ellen,
Who are Col. Orlando de Leon and Col. Archie Segumalian ?
Anna:
Over here, when a soldier is found to have committed a crime or even just a misdemeanor, he is immediately terminated (no such thing as a complicated military as we have seen in such US movies as “A Few Good Men”) and sent to the prosecutor’s office for an investigation as a civilian, and indicted if found guilty. It is why when they are sent to the court for a trial they are called “Accused” versus “Suspect,” which is how they are called when under police investigation.
Now, with the creation of the Ministry of Defense, things will probably be different with the military now required to do their own military court before an erring soldier is sent to the civilian court if the case involves a civilian as in the cases of US military personnel caught committing crimes in Japan, in or out of the US bases.
PTI report na lang takot na itong si Asoperon. Duwag, Idiot!!!
tang#$@^&*%$%^$#!!! Haaayyy, nakakakulo ng dugo!
Kagagawan at utos lahat iyan ng Temporary Permanent Fake Commander-in-Cheap! Puro kababalaghan ang trabaho ni Glueria at Asoperon! Mga DUWAG kasi!
Hahahah! Chi! I like the way you get angry… “tang#$@^&*%$%^$#!!! Haaayyy, nakakakulo ng dugo!”
Chi,
Tawag diyan, manduduro na parang mga asong ulol! Magaling lang manakot pero walang ibubuga! Pareho yatang mekeni!
This should read, “(no such thing as a complicated military COURT as we have seen in such US movies as “A Few Good Men”)
For his announcement, BTW, of creating a Ministry of Defense, Abe’s rating plummeted down, and there is a prediction that his might be one of the shortest reign in Japanese political history. May phobia kasi ang mga hapon sa military because of past experience before and during WWII.
Sana ganyan sa Pilipinas. Hindi puedeng mag-abuso lalo na iyong hindi naman naboto ng karamihan. Kundi pa nandaya, hindi makakaupo sa Malacanang. Kapal din ng mukha!
Best thing really is to keep on exposing this creep and her lackeys, including the abusive husband and children not just in the Philippines but also overseas. Sabi nga ng Be Not Afraid movement, “Huwag matakot sa mga kurakot!”
I love the B&W motto better, though. PATALSIKIN NA, NOW NA!
Anna, I cannot recall much about Col. De Leon but Col. Segumalian was seen on TV as the probably the first officer to come to Querubin’s aid with troops and tanks during the standoff at the Marines HQ after the supposed Feb “coup” saying, “Gusto lang naman namin, malinis na eleksiyon”.
That did it. Mag-eeleksiyon na kasi uli, kaya kinulong sila. Ayaw yata ng gobyerno ng malinis na halalan talaga.
Ah! Thanks, Tongue!
Tanks? Hmmm… well, will still be uphill battle for sexless Esperon to claim that he toppled a coup d’état or whoever his former CSAFP…
Esperon’s bogus enchanted queen cum commander in chief should be DELIGHTED that there are decent men in the AFP.
Well, I guess, she knows that decency isn’t her forté!
Tang&àç(èçà!&èè punggok na penguin na yan!
Asong ulol na, punggok na penguin pa! heheh!
We become so creative coining words to describe the “very gloria”!
General Esperon’s Kangaroo Court should be disbanded because there’s no due process at its creation. General Esperon is the judge, jury and executioner for those principled military officers who can no longer stomach the abuses of fake commander-in-thief Gloria Arroyo. BTW, how will Gloria the defense chief and Esperon divides the $5-million Solaiman bounty? Siguhin ito ay dapat hating kapatid sa 245 million pesos. Kapag pera nag pinagusapan wala akong tiwala sa dalawang kawatan. Pera na maging bato pa para sa mga sundalo. Gloria and Jose Pidal allegedly pocketed $ 4M from Impsa express deal.
Forté? Nah. Decency is not a word in her DICTIONARY. Probably misprinted somewhere between the X and Y pages.
Yes, Anna, there were tanks – an LVT and a smaller one (Simba?) can’t remember exactly. If Miranda hadn’t pacified Querubin and Segumalian it could have been bloody messy – gov’t forces coming in, Querubin’s second wave joins the fray, and so on. You can figure that out better than me. Querubin wouldn’t be foolish to show all his forces at the first instance, right? It’s absurd to even think that Querubin’s “small” force then at the HQ was all he could muster. My crystal balls – red from scratching – say GHQ may have made a commitment and reneged later on. I say it was a fullblown mutiny in the offing that had to cut quick because this assholeperson cannot be convinced by CSAFP to sacrifice skin.
Wala na sa tamang pag iisip itong spron. Aakusahan nya ang mga sundalo ng mutiny pero ayaw nya ipakita ang basehan ng akusasyon. Takot talaga si speron sa mga accused officers dahil maraming silang followers sa afp. Kaya ang gagawin ni spron ay patatagalin ang proseso para hindi sila makakalaya baka magiging threat pa sa administrasyon at ke sprn mismo.
kaya, lahat ay ndi lang ‘mockery’ kundi Monkery.
Kwento na isang reporter, sinita raw ni bacarro ang mga Mil Police (MP) kahapon bakit hindi nakaposas ang mga accused marines baka mapansin at magalit daw si speron.
sinagot sya ng isang MP: “ang responsabilidad namin ay maisiguro na makakaattend sa lahat ng hearings ang mga akusado, nakaposas man o hindi.”
Alam mo Spy hindi ko maintindihan kung papano naging heneral itong si Esperon.May ikinuwento ang kaibigan ko sa akin na muntik na raw hindi maka-graduate sa PMA itong pit-bull na itong dahil yata may underground activity siya sa kaliwa.Totoo ba ang kuwento? Anyway kung totoo man o hindi dapat sana noon pa ay pinutulan na ng sungay ito.
Ang magiting na sundalo ay hindi nagpapahirap sa kanyang mga tauhan,dapat ito ay ipagtangol niya from bad to worse.Porke ba may iba silang paniniwala kakasuhan mo na sila.Hindi naman nila hinubad ang mga uniporme nila.Sino ba nakalaban nila,wala namang digmaan.All I can see is that Esperon is a coward and he is afraid of his own shadow that haunting him right now.Without Gloria he will sell gums and pieces of cigarrettes along EDSA.
Hi Ellen,
Thank you for being there yesterday. You might not have known it but we are grateful for your presence. You are right, even how short the time, we treasure those hearings as moments of being with our families again. Of course, we are once again frustrated with what happened.
God bless!
What a kangaroo court indeed! Bobo na tamad pa! Thank Heavens, I don’t live in that kind of jungle!
Invictus, and other wives, you should bond together and seek the best legal help in and out of the country.
Anna is right, behind the victorious men are their valiant women. Talk of those Spartan women who made Spartans victorious in war.
PATALSIKIN NA, NOW NA! KANGAROO COURT, TIGILAN NA! I TAKE MY HAT OFF FOR THESE MEN IN UNIFORM FOR THEIR PERSEVERANCE AND DETERMINATION TO RESIST THE CROOKS NOW MANNING THE AFP FOR THE CRIMINAL WHO CONTINUE TO SQUAT AT THE PALACE BY THE MURKY RIVER!
The bottom line in this Kangaroo court is, they just want to incarcerate the officers and soldiers who can no longer stomach the corruption, lying and cheating of the AFP and the Tiyanak. If Tiyanak did not use the military( also the the marines now) to rig the elections, none of these “alleged mutiny” would have happened. There surely are just a few good men in the military now and most of them may just be content with the status quo because of their families but the most remarkable and admirable men are in the detention cells. Hang in there Brave Soldiers, when the tide turns, you will be forces to reckon with in changing the corrupt AFP. You may be few but you can be the nucleus of change.
Better to be incarcerated than to be following orders from your leaders who only know money and power! Imagine following orders from Assperon! Ngek!!! Matulog na lang ako sa detention cell, mas peaceful pa! Or think of it this way, if you are put back in your positions, baka ibala pa kayo sa kanyon. So, just kick back and relax. Pump some iron so that you may be very fit when your tour of duty starts. Tingnan ninyo ang hitsura ni Assperon, parang nakalunok ng pakwang malaki, para bagang manganganak na sa isang buwan sa laki ng tiyan. Ugly,ugly, ugly!!! He can not even deliver a speech without looking at his notes. Worse, he stammers pa at every word he says. Gee, I do not know of any PMAer who spoke poorly in public! You have to stay in your cells for a little longer. Talagang ganyan, takot si Tiyanak na baka pupulisan pa ninyo ang May 2007 elections. Matalo pa ang mga kampon niya.
I read the news about the last court martial hearing. Where in the world can you find a court where the accused are not provided documents(the pre-trial investigation report)? Therefore, haka haka, kuno kuno lang ang lahat. Sabagay, in Tiyanak’s kingdom, everything is a hallucination and projection. Even her enemies are imaginary. Kaya naman to the Filipino people, imaginary president din siya!
Earlier in one of the blogs I read that Assperon, if he is a real leader, should have looked at the officers’ differences in their views. I agree with this 100%. Leadership is harnessing all the best qualities in your men not imposing on them! Respect is earned! Unfortunately, in the Tiyanak’s kingdom, intimidation, oppression,elimination and the like are in. Look at what she is doing now to the local officials? If indeed corruption is the issue, why is Sabit Swing-son( Chavit Singson) still in his position?
Sadly, the most affected by the incarceration of these officers are their famililies. Most of them still have school aged children. Imagine the impact of the incarcenation on these your ones!
On my end, all I can do is pray that the leaders who momentarily lost their values will one day wake up and see the light.
Anna, check out these entries on Col. Orlando de Leon and Col. Archie Segumallian:
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=322
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=311
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=315
Thank you Ellen.
I read the first post and am impressed: “Segumalian’s tawi-Tawi assignment came on heels of the resignation of Col. Orlando de Leon as Marines chief of staff. In his strongly-worded resignation letter, de Leon said, “. Survival and threats reign over principles and honor of many officers who rather suppress the truth just to push some personal agenda.”
Looks like the good elements of the Marines are being waylaid. Extraordinary that this penguin with flippers styling herself as commander in chief can’t see that to have an efficient Marines Corps, you gotta have good officers, without them, the Marines will buckle under.
Dumb penguin idiot!
Kailan lang may bumanggit at hinahanap si Invictus. Nandito na siya. Maligayang pagbabalik. Ano kaya kung dagdagan mo ng Sol ang pangalan mo para maging Sol Invictus.
Ellen,
Millora’s withdrawal from the farcical proceedings is the right thing to do.
There would be more of what Millora did if the court martial panel railroads the proceddings without releasing the PTI.
Ellen,
What’s on the agenda now? Is the court martial postponed indefinitely?
This is getting more farcical each day. Absolutely gobsmacking in the extreme.
No wonder the Malaysian Defence Forces look down on the AFP – not because of our officers and men in general but because of the few so-called LEADERS/TOP RANKING OFFICERS of the AFP who are just simple goons!
Ano ba ang PTI Ate Ellen? Philippine Tribune Inquirer? Nag-merge na ba ang Tribune at Inquirer?
artsee,
pwede bang mag-leased ka ng isang satellite sa China at tapatan mo ng milyones na dolyar mo ang Lehman Brothers?
paki tingnan mo rin kung totoo ngang may center of gravity na tinatawag itong CSG(Tsip Sekyu) Asspirin?
artsee, ako ang naghahanap kina invictus, military wife and others. nararandaman ko kasi ang kanilang dinaranas. kasabihan nga, lukso ng damdaming binigkis ng prinsipyong ipinaglalaban.
invictus, maligayang pagbabalik. tuloy ang laban.