by Ashzel Hachero and Victor Reyes
A Makati court yesterday dismissed for lack of probable cause the rebellion charge filed by the justice department against former Vice President Teofisto Guingona and 17 others in connection with the standoff at the Peninsula Hotel in Makati City late last month.
Judge Elmo Alameda also ordered the release of 14 individuals from detention at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.
Guingona, Bishop Julio Labayen, former UP president Francisco Nemenzo, and actress and scriptwriter Bibeth Orteza were among those charged but were not detained for humanitarian reasons.
Guingona, Labayen and Nemenzo are in an advanced age while Orteza is a cancer survivor.
Detained were “running priest” Robert Reyes, lawyers J.V. Bautista and Argee Guevarra, Antonio Trillanes III, Myrna Buendia, Dominador Rull Jr., Romeo Solis, Roel Gadon, Rommel Loreto, Julian Advincula, Francisco Bosi, Leodor dela Cruz, Sonny Madarang and Francisco Penaflor.
Trillanes III is the elder brother of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who led the Peninsula standoff.
Alameda said the court found “wanting” the prosecution’s evidence to warrant the filing of the rebellion case against the 18 civilians.
He said even the alleged acts committed and utterances made by Guingona, Labayen, Bautista, Guevarra and Orteza “are not sufficient to establish probable cause for rebellion.”
“The allegations in the affidavits of the arresting officers, the letter referral from the DOJ and other supporting evidence presented are far from proof needed to indict rebellion. What these documents prove at best is that the accused-civilians were arrested because they ignored the call of the police, despite the deadline given to them, to come out of the second floor of the hotel and submit themselves to the authorities,” Alameda said.
Trillanes’ group surrendered about three hours after the 3 p.m. deadline.
Alameda said the affidavits also failed to establish what specific acts were committed by the accused-civilians to warrant the rebellion case. He said not even the video footages showing the walkout, the march, and their presence in the hotel failed to provide evidence needed to indict the respondents.
“Mere presence at the scene of the crime and issuing individual statements, expressing one’s sentiment on the affairs of government or sharing one’s advocacy on electoral and political reforms without concrete evidence that the person giving the statement knew beforehand the criminal intention of the group to take up arms with the aim of overthrowing the government, would not make one a conspirator in the crime of rebellion,” Alameda said.
Alameda faulted the prosecution panel headed by Cavite provincial prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco.
“The court observed that the investigating prosecutors have in some respects exaggerated the facts from the point of view of the prosecutors,” he said.
Alameda also said the court was not convinced that the accused civilians conspired with the accused soldiers.
CONTINUED DETENTION
Alameda said there was probable cause to indict Trillanes, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim who also joined the walkout, and the Magdalo officers.
He ordered their continued detention together with Lt. (s.g.) James Layug, Eugene Louie Gonzalez, Manuel Cabochan, and Andy Torrato; Captains Gary Alejano and Segundino Orfiano; Lt. Arturo Pascua; 1Lts. Jonnel Sanggalang and Billy Pascua; Ensign Armand Pontejos; Cpl. Clecarte Dahan; Pfc. Juanito Jilbury, Emmanuel Tirador and German Linde; and now retired Petty Officers 3 Julius Mesa and Cesari Gonzalez.
Before the standoff, Trillanes and the other Magdalo officers were detained in Fort Bonifacio and Lim at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.
Escaped Magdalo member Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon and several others who are subject of manhunt operations were not included in the charges because they have not undergone inquest proceedings.
The lawyers of the accused-civilians expressed elation over the court ruling.
“We expected this since the prosecution’s evidence against our client is definitely wanting. There was no reason for the authorities to make warrantless arrests,” said Guingona’s lawyer Ernesto Francisco.
Trillanes’ lawyer Reynaldo Robles said: “We are very thankful to Judge Alameda for upholding the rule of law and for being fair. Despite the fact that only the civilian respondents are being released while the rest would remain in detention, we are still very happy.”
As for Trillanes and the rest of the Magdalo members, he said they might ask for the conduct of an “actual preliminary investigation” in which case he said, the case would be returned to the DOJ or they can proceed with the arraignment and the trial of the case.
6 SOLDIERS PROBED
Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said six soldiers are under investigation in connection with the Peninsula incident.
He said the names of the six soldiers, mostly from the Army, appeared in a document listing the names of personnel involved in the plot. The document was recovered from the hotel after the standoff.
The six were not in the hotel, Esperon said. “They did not join (in the actual siege), one of them was even confined in a hospital.”
Esperon said the military is still determining what role the six soldiers played. It was also unclear whether the six were involved in the Oakwood mutiny.
‘WANTED FOR WHAT?’
Supporters of Faeldon, who has a P1 million bounty on his head, criticized efforts to re-arrest him.
Faeldon first escaped from military custody in December 2005. He was captured a month later.
In a statement posted onFaeldon’s website (pilipino.org.ph), the supporters said: “The PNP has released `Wanted’ posters of Capt. Nicanor Faeldon and several others. Wanted for what? He has not been charged with rebellion. The prosecutors who conducted the inquest set his case for preliminary investigation,” they said.
They said the PNP appears to be “jumping the gun on a person who has yet to be accused of engaging in acts of violence.” They said not a single shot was fired during the Oakwood mutiny while all the shots came from government troops during the siege.
They asked Esperon why the military is so afraid of Faeldon who was previously assigned with the elite Marines Force Recon. Esperon has said Faeldon is a threat to security because he can do some “foolish things.”
They said while Faeldon is an explosives expert, he has never used his skills against civilians.
“Captain Faeldon is armed. He is armed with the fire of one who loves his country and is ready to suffer for it,” they said.
They said Faeldon went to Oakwood in July 2003 “to tell the world how this government is willing to kill its own citizens to abet corruption.”
He joined the march to Manila Peninsula “to protest continuing government oppression,” they said.
The supporters also said Faeldon is “dangerous” because he has no desire to seek public office.
“He cannot be bought, and he will continue the struggle to the end. Such a man is dangerous because he reminds us that there are those who fight for their country without asking for anything in return, thus reminding us that all those who claim to be the saviors always send us to a bill later on,” they added. – With Victor Reyes
thats expected
yessss!!!
this is it! another judge who is true to his judgment and not allowing himself to be influenced by the stinking motives of the filthy bitch.
mabuhay ka, judge alameda. but be extra careful. markado ka tiyak sa mga katulad ni esPWEron.
watch your back.
that should be.
wala namang basehan at puro panggugulo lang upang malito ang paniniwala ng taong bayan.
ilan pa kaya ang katulad ni judge alameda?
now we know. next time a million civilians can come legally, enough to scare these crows in malakanyang.
I hope this is a misquote. Or, has the judge come up with the verdict even before the trials?
This is a good reason for the prosecutors to be removed from the supervision of the Secretary of Justice. During the last Congress,a bill was filed granting autonomy to the prosecutors through the creation of an independent prosecution service. The bill was shot down due to the objections of the present Secretary of Justice. Under the present set-up, the Secretary, a cabinet member, can order the prosecutors to file criminal cases against anyone regardless of the evidence. I am quite sure that the panel of prosecutors who filed the baseless rebellion charges against Guingona, et al were acting on orders from the Secretary.
See….it’s a game plan by GMA and co.
Na double-cross ang mga pobre, para di obvious eh kunyari involved ang civilian na nasa PEN pero ang totoo eh pakawala sila ni GMA, bakit po kasi eh idenfied sila with BnW movement (sa Itim n’ sa Puti) noong nagmartsa somewhere in Makati kotra sa pagpapalaya kay Erap.
Moro-moro lang ang talaga! Sa Palagay nýo?
Bakit nga meron ng verdict kina Trillanes even before hearing the evidences against them?
Mukhang meron ng senaryong nakahanda courtesy of the most korap kwin unano.
Yehey! to Bibeth, Bishop Labayen, Prof. Nemenzo and Co.
Ipagkumpara ang Manila Hotel Incident noong July 1986 ni VP Arturo Tolentino at ngayong November 29,2007 sa Manila Pen.
At least, Judge Alameda looks like he is sane and logical that are lacking in many of the judges who kowtow to the criminal calling herself “president.” Hopefully, this judge will not find himself being framed up or something because the whiner says he has to go, too.
Frankly, we all have to protect and fortify ourselves against any attempt of crooks to discredit, weaken, etc. those who are keen on removing the little devil before 2010.
As Senator Trillanes said, “Tuloy ang laban!”
“I hope this is a misquote. Or, has the judge come up with the verdict even before the trials?” – Ka Enchong
This is at early stage of determining probable cause. The judge agrees with the motion that there is no probable cause. If the state disagrees, then it has to submit evidence to show probable cause to put the civilians behind bars while on trial.
“were the only ones who clearly committed rebellion.”
Again, this is early stage and not a verdict for Trillanes. The “clearly” here is to separate the military who botched its trial and the civilians. The state still has to prove in court the alleged rebellion charges against Trillanes.
The interesting piece in the judge’s opinion is the media footage to be used as evidence. Remember the press were not charged for obstruction, therefore media footage confiscated have no legal basis and obviously not covered by the warrant.
Hehehe. If you check the pilipino.org.ph website, the PNP it seems, mis-spelled the word “siege” in their Faeldon WANTED poster. They cant even spell the word right, much less handle the real thing.
Sir Raul O. Gonzales had a mouthful, as usual, about the Senate inquiry on the Pen incident. He was a no-show in that hall but he WAS in the Senate, attending the budget hearing. (pagka kwarta, inuuna!)
He, however, was frothing when informed by media that Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco was the sole representative for government in the hearing. Velasco didn’t even bother defending government, news reports said.
The next time, Alameda’s court may see a new prosecutor replacing Velasco who said he had to attend after getting the Senate invitation.
Attention all would-be patriots. Please include Esperon’s name and of the others in all your documents specially on manifestos and blueprints. As masterminds…