It was about 10:30 in the morning when the Makati regional trial court resumed hearing the charges against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and 30 other Magdalo officers for their role in the so-called “Oakwood Mutiny” on July 27, 2003.
Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, chief of the First Scout Ranger Regiment, was on the witness stand. He had been summoned to testify on the “Oakwood Agreement” that was forged with the government.
Lim said under the agreement, only five leaders of the supposed mutiny would be charged and the rest would be admonished.
Two days after the “mutiny,” Lim said the negotiators met President Arroyo in a dinner at Malacanang.
Armed Forces chief Hermogenes Esperon, then Army operations officer, was present in the meeting and objected to the terms of the Oakwood Agreement.
“Nagdala na sila ng high-powered firearms tapos admonish lang?” Lim quoted Esperon as saying.
After a five-minute recess, the court reconvened. The prosecution was interrogating Lim when LTSG James Layug suddenly stood up and approached the witness stand.
The Navy officer grabbed, lifted and carried Lim out of the courtroom. Trillanes, the other Magdalo officers, their guards and civilian supporters followed them out of Judge Oscar Pimentel’s sala. (Four guards are assigned to each detained Magdalo officer.) The journalists followed as well.
I chanced upon one of Lim’s guards and asked him, “Ano na lang ito?”
He replied, “Ewan.”
From J. P. Rizal Street, Lim and Trillanes and their group walked toward Makati Avenue. The roads were clear of traffic.
Trillanes was urging the public through the media to join their protest action. Pedestrians and commuters cheered him on. Cars honked their horns to show their support for the senator who remains in detention despite his election last May.
When Lim and Trillanes reached the Manila Peninsula Hotel at Makati and Ayala avenues, they tried to enter through the side entrance but were blocked by the hotel guard. A shot was heard, shattering the glass door. No one was hurt.
The marchers finally entered and proceeded to the Conservatory on the hotel’s second floor where Lim read a three-page statement.
You gotta hand it to Lim’s guards — they were brave. Never mind if they said, “Ewan ko!”