by Ashzel Hachero, Regina Bengco and Victor Reyes
Malaya
Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim yesterday asked the Makati regional trial court handling the rebellion case filed against him and 35 other persons to order his transfer to the detention facility in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.
Lim, who was involved in last week’s standoff at the Manila Peninsula hotel in Makati City, is detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.
Lim has been in detention in Camp Capinpin since last year for allegedly leading a plot to grab power from government in February last year. He and 27 other Army and Marines officers detained in the camp are facing court martial for mutiny, among others.
The standoff Thursday last week was led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes who walked out of the sala of Makati Judge Oscar Pimentel during a hearing of the coup d’état case filed against him and other Magdalo officers who staged the Oakwood mutiny in July 2003. Trillanes is a former Navy lieutenant.
Other Magdalo officers joined Trillanes in the walkout and marched to the Manila Peninsula hotel where they holed out for about six hours.
Lim, who was called to the hearing as a witness for the Magdalo officers, joined the march.
In asking for Lim’s return to Camp Capinpin, his lawyer Vicente Verdadero said his client is not a Magdalo officer being tried for coup d’état.
“General Lim was there not as an accused but as a witness who was taken `by force’ by one of the accused,” Verdadero said in a four-page motion before Makati Judge Elmo Alameda who is trying the rebellion case on the Manila Peninsula incident.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, reacting to a reporter’s question over a reported statement of Lim that he was “forced” into joining the standoff by his co-accused, said he could not believe that Lim, a general, could be so easily swayed by Trillanes, a former Navy captain, even if the latter is now a senator.
“That’s his own call…Kung ayaw niyang sumama, sana siya ay naupo doon at di siya sumama,” he said.
Verdadero, sought for clarification, said he was quoting from a contempt order, specifically the words “by force,” issued by Pimentel against Trillanes and the other Magdalo officers after the walkout.
“They (taken by force) were not my own words. They were from the court in citing for contempt Trillanes, Layug and the others. That order came from the court. That is an independent and impartial observation (by the court). I did not make that statement,” he said.
Verdadero, offering proof that Lim is not a Magdalo member, presented to the court an arrest warrant issued by Pimentel against Trillanes, Lt. (s.g.) James Layug and Marine Capt. Gary Alejano and 11 other Magdalo members who walked out of the court.
He said Lim should be returned to Camp Capinpin also to enable the general to attend the court martial proceedings being held in the camp.
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, chief of the AFP public information office, said military lawyers are gathering evidence against Lim relating to the standoff preparatory to pre-trial investigation and court martial.
Among these are TV footage of the standoff, during which Lim read a statement calling for the ouster of President Arroyo.
Bacarro said under the military justice system, an officer can face two similar charges for two separate acts.
Bacarro also told Oakwood leader Capt. Nicanor Faeldon and two former soldiers who escaped after standoff to surrender, saying it will not be long until they are arrested.
Also missing are retired Scout Ranger Cpl. Elmer Colon and one Sonny Madarang. Bacarro could not say the branch of service and rank of Madarang but said he and Colon were Oakwood mutiny participants.
Colon was seen beside Lim as the latter was reading the statement at the hotel. He was in the black battle attire of Scout Ranger soldiers and was wearing a wig.
Bacarro said the military has leads on the whereabouts of Faeldon who has a P1 million reward on his head.
Inquirer story: Lim’s lawyer wants him under military custody
Wonder if Esperon will accept? He will be soooooo scared to have Lim back in Tanay. Just too much risk that the AFP might be pulled from under him (Esperon).
Well, my guess is Asspweron wouldn’t approve it. If they can get their own guards to join Lim and the others? What more now more than ever? Wherever prison they put them in, it’ll be a lose-lose situation for Gloria and her bandidos.
Tribune reports, “Gov’t wants media as witnesses vs rebels.”
Now, we’ll see the real macoys in the field of journalism in the Philippines, and when I see real macoys, people who are living up to the name, and abide by the rules of honest to goodness news reporting versus propaganda, which lamentably is what journalism seems to be in the Philippines I observe.
If they agree to be state witnesses to pin the few good men of the AFP, it will surely be a great disappointment, and why journalists in other countries, who are a power by themselves, are hesitant to answer to the distress calls of journalists (daw) in the Philippines.
Baka nga naman mapahamak pa sila dahil wala nang mga yagbols ang karamihan. Otherwise, the criminal would not be able to stay there with her and her minions bragging about her ability to remain in power. Hard as a nail pa nga daw even when in fact when you hammer a nail, it can bend or be broken down.
I was a special correspondent in fact for a news agency in the Philippines many years ago, but I was disillusioned by the propagandists among my colleagues. I thought it defeated the idea of the “pen being sharper than the sword.”
WHO IS GEN LIM?
http://ramilcvaliente.blogspot.com/
they want the journalists to be state witnesses…they are not asking, they WANT. If that is not desperation, I don’t know what is…or are they being funny?
Give credit where credit is due. The article on Gen. Ganny Lim was written by Malaya columnist retired Col. Romeo Lim (no relation), also a scout ranger.
It was already linked earlier in my Nov. 28 post, “Rise up and be counted”.
ang sino mang hindi kilala si bgen danilo lim ay hindi nakakakilala sa isa sa mga pinamagiting na heneral ng dating marangal na hukbong sandatahan.
kung ikukumpara si esPWEron, nilamukos na toilet paper ang katulad niya kay bgen lim!
Bilib ako talaga sa hero ko, si Gen. Danny Lim!
Mabuhay ka General! I always pray for your welfare and safety.
May araw din ‘yang si Asspweron at Gluerilla!
Nakakabingi ang SILENCE ng mga sundalo ngayon sa nangyari last Nov.29,2007..While Capt. Faeldon is at large.. can we expect something good in the “future”. Unlike his first escape, he can be easily traced, But now, i don’t think so.. Capt. Faeldon has a lot of supporters, mostly youth.Esperon is iwas pusoy regarding the Makati StandOff.. so much shame to bring..He is a mistah of Gen. Miranda who is presently detained in Tanay..But they differ in ”COLOR”.. ESPERON is BLACK.. and GEN. MIRANDA is BLUE.. On February 2008, he’ll be retiring.. maybe PANDAK had already reserved him a seat in one of the government agencies.. ESPERON and BEDOL has a common deeds in PANDAK’s ABRAKADABRA last May 2004.
“If it is necessary that we become a sacrificial lamb,then let it be..To our countrymen,pray for us….pray for our cause.”sir Danny Lim mabuhay po kayo..