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Category: Feb ’06

Accuser and judge

Published by Ellen on February 2, 2008

Straight from Esperon’s mouth: aside from eliminating the New People’s Army, he wants the trial for the 28 officers he accused of mutiny for allegedly planning to withdraw support from Gloria Arroyo in February 2006 finished.

Esperon said this in an interview at ANC. Esperon said that the officers should be punished for what they did.

This is precisely what is wrong with the special general court martial no. 2 trying the case of Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and 26 other officers for the February 2006 allegations. This is what the officers have been complaining about: it’s a kangaroo court. And Esperon’s interview at ANC confirmed it.

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Defiance as tool for justice

Published by Ellen on February 1, 2008

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Col. Ariel Querubin was running a high fever this morning but Col. Arnulfo Marcos. commander of the Custodial Management Unit attempted to forcefully bring him to Camp Aguiinaldo to attend hearing. Take note of Querubin’s medal of valor beside him. When an officer wears his medal of Valor, even the President salutes him.

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Col Orlando de leon shows his bruises from the scuffle with custodians who also wanted to forcibly being him to Camp Aguinaldo.

Court martial hearing for the 28 officers accused of mutiny in connection with the February 2006 alleged plan to withdraw support from Gloria Arroyo was again cancelled when the seven officers that got notice of hearing refused to attend unless the whole batch of 28 accused would participate in the hearings.

Tension ensued in Camp Capinpin in Tanay ( where four of the seven officers are detained) when custodians tried to forcibly bring the accused to Camp Aguinaldo where the hearing was held. In the end, the accused had their way. (I‘ll write more about this tomorrow. I’m tired!).

The detained officers issued the following statement:

Justice and due process

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Why Esperon has to stay

Published by Ellen on January 27, 2008

Gloria Arroyo’s justification for the extension of the service of her favorite AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon won’t pass even with those with brains filled with gunpowder.

According to Malacañang’s press release, Arroyo extended Esperon’s term for three months (up to May 9) to “sustain the government’s ongoing campaign to finally end rebel insurgency in the country.”

“Because there is a momentum in the campaign against the NPA (New People’s Army) and they are expecting a snowball in the next several months,” Arroyo said.

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Military court insists on arraignment by batches for Miranda et al

Published by Ellen on January 24, 2008

by Victor Reyes

A military court trying 28 officers linked to the February 2006 alleged power grab attempt has moved the venue of the trial from Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, where most of the officers are detained, to the military’s general headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

The military also announced that eight of the accused will be arraigned on Tuesday.

The venue transfer was made on the request of defense lawyers, said Maj. Emilio Felicen, court spokesman. He said the lawyers have raised the issue of the long travel they have to take to make it to hearings.

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Disputing government lies

Published by Ellen on January 20, 2008

Army Capt. Ruben Guinolbay, who is detained in Camp Capinpin in connection with the alleged plan to withdraw support from Gloria Arroyo in February 2006, sent us a note to dispute what he said were the lies that the government is peddling against his “men” who were arrested last week and charged for allegedly planning to stage a coup.

The soldiers are former Army Rangers Sgt. Orlando Valencia, Corporals Ramon Perania, Redantel Maranan, and Walter Francisco. They once belonged to the Third Scout Rangers battalion that Guinolbay commanded.

A civilian driver, Kim Agas, who was mistaken as a former soldier, was also dragged in.

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Wanted: A better scriptwriter

Published by Ellen on January 17, 2008

Update on coup plot, click here for Victor Reyes’ story

As I’m writing this column, it was announced by the Department of Justice that former Scout Ranger Sgt. Orlando Valencia has been ordered released after their initial investigation showed “no probable cause” for charges filed against him by the PNP Criminal Intelligence and Detection Group.

Valencia, together with three other former Scout Rangers Corporals Ramon Perania, Walter Francisco, and Redantel Mara-nan and a civilian driver Kim Agas were arrested Tuesday afternoon by elements of ISAFP (Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines) for allegedly plotting a coup.

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To extend or not to extend

Published by Ellen on January 15, 2008


It looks like AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon’s intense (some even say “shameless”) lobbying for extension of his services is for nothing. Two of Gloria Arroyo’s influential advisers have told her to let go of Esperon when he retires on February 9.

Our usual reliable sources said Rear Adm. Leonardo Calderon, AFP deputy chief of staff for intelligence, and national security adviser Norberto Gonzales discussed with GMA the pros and cons of extending Esperon’s services and the cons outweighed the pros.

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Camp Capinpin’s population explosion

Published by Ellen on January 3, 2008

A kin of one of the detainees in Camp Capinpin shared with us this cute story:

A week after the world celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger more than 2,000 years ago, the officers detained in Camp Capinpin were overseeing the birth of man’s best friends. Eleven of them.

Tuesday night, Col. Ariel Querubin’s female bull mastiff, Jenny, gave birth to 11 puppies.

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