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Tag: ariel querubin

Ask Napoles to spell ‘forty’

Published by Ellen on August 15, 2013

Janet L. Napoles
Janet L. Napoles
Retired Marine Colonel Ariel Querubin remembers that when Jenny Napoles, the pork barrel queen who is now a fugitive, wrote a check for forty thousand pesos for the interest of the money she owed his late first wife, Loretta (Cercenia), she didn’t know how to spell the word “forty.”

“Ano nga ang spelling ng forty (How is forty spelled?),” Querubin recalled Napoles asking him.

He spelled out F-O-R-T-Y to her.

Retired Marine Col. Ariel Querubin
Retired Marine Col. Ariel Querubin

“She probably was not sure if she would spell it with a “u” as in “four”, Querubin, a Medal of Valor Awardee, said.

Napoles’ being unsure how to spell “forty” (which shows that you need not be good in spelling to amass billions of money) is just a sidelight of Querubin’s unpleasant memory of Napoles, who borrowed money from his military doctor-wife, with a promise to pay it with a five percent interest, for an investment she was making in a shipyard business.

The transaction turned out to be traumatic for Querubin because after a day after a stressful meeting of his wife with Napoles on Aug. 18, 1994, the former died of “unexplained primary pulmonary hypertension.”

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Giving thanks for small blessings

Published by Ellen on September 28, 2010

Y0u have to admire these principled officers for keeping the faith, for looking at the glass as half-full, rather than half-empty, as they take calmly the latest setback in their mutiny case that had its origin in their resistance to the use by Gloria Arroyo of the military to thwart the will of the people in the 2004 elections.

Praying for an enlighted decision at the start of the hearing

Tuesday, the military court headed by Maj. Gen. Josue S. Gaverza Jr. released its much delayed decision on the motion of the accused to dismiss the case as the prosecution has not proven that the accused officers committed mutiny in February 2006.

Cleared of mutiny charges
The court granted the motion of seven officers, four from the Marines – Col. Orlando de Leon, Lt. Col. Custodio Parcon, Lt. Col. Achilles Segumalian and the only female officer among the accused Lt. Belinda Ferrer – and three from the Scout Rangers, namely Maj. Jose Leomar Doctolero, Capt. William Upano and Homer Estolas.

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Seven cleared of mutiny charges; Miranda, Lim, Querubin’s motion denied

Published by Ellen on September 28, 2010

by Victor Reyes
Malaya

A jmilitary tribunal yesterday cleared seven military officers of the charge of mutiny filed against them in connection with the alleged plot to overthrow the Arroyo administration in February 2006 but sustained the charge against nine other accused.

Cleared were Col. Orlando de Leon, Lt. Col. Marine Achilles Segumalian, Lt. Col. Custodo Parcon, and 1Lt. Belinda Ferrer of the Marines, and Maj. Leomar Jose Doctolero, Capt. William Victorino Upano, and 1Lt. Homer Estolas of the Army.

The seven, in a second motion for reconsideration for a finding of not guilty, said they did not violate Article of War 67 or mutiny.

The court presided by Maj. Gen. Josue Gaverza said it granted the motion “for being meritorious.”

It denied the motion of the nine others for “lack of merit.”

Continue readingSeven cleared of mutiny charges; Miranda, Lim, Querubin’s motion denied

Military court to decide fate of 16 officers in mutiny charge

Published by Ellen on September 8, 2010

By Tessa Jamandre
VERA Files

A military court will decide today on the plea—twice denied under the government of former President Gloria Arroyo—to exonerate 16 military officers facing mutiny charges for a supposed plot against her in 2006.

Update:

The court yesterday set another hearing on Sept. 24 for promulgation of this case. The hearing yesterday started with the court looking for the motions for reconsideration filed by the defense lawyers. Either the prosecution didn’t have them in their file or the panel didn’t get their copies. When the MRs were all found, the court asked the prosecution to make a comment within ten days from Sept. 9. Then they will issue the promulgation on Sept. 24.

This is the first time that the court martial proceedings will resume under the new commander-in-chief, Benigno Aquino III.
After two postponements, the court is finally expected to rule on the defense panel’s motion for reconsideration. The hearing was originally set for Aug. 27, then moved to Sept. 3. The last hearing was on May 21.

The motion asks the court to absolve the 16 officers of the charge of mutiny, which the court denied on Oct. 27, 2009. The accused appealed the decision, but their motion for reconsideration was denied just the same on March 2, 2010.

Continue readingMilitary court to decide fate of 16 officers in mutiny charge

VERA Files video: court martial face-off

Published by Ellen on September 23, 2009

by Tessa Jamandre
VERA Files

The mutiny case against the 28 officers in connection with the alleged February 2006 plot to withdraw support from President Gloria Arroyo is on its final stretch.

The prosecution presented on Wednesday its last and most important witness. Presidential Management Staff chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who was Armed Forces Chief of Staff at the time, had ordered the detention of the 28 officers—nine from the Marines led by their commandant, Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, and 19 Army Scout Rangers led by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.

Click here (VERA Files) for the video and the full report.

It was a conspiracy to grab power, Esperon tells court martial

by Victor Reyes
Malaya

Former Armed Forces chief Gen. (ret.) Hermogenes Esperon, testifying for the prosecution, yesterday said the officers implicated in the alleged attempt to overthrow the Arroyo government in February 2006 conspired with other quarters to grab power.

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Two hearings

Published by Ellen on September 6, 2009

Last Thursday, while former Armed Forces Chief Generoso Senga, now ambassador to Iran, was testifying at a court martial trial in Camp Aguinaldo on the stirrings in the military in February 2006, members of the Magdalo group were at the Commission on Election for a hearing on their application for accreditation of Magdalo Para sa Pagbabago as a regional political party in the National Capital Region.

Questions asked of Former Air Force Lieutenant Ashley Acedillo, secretary general and spokesman for the Magdalo group, revolved around whether they advocate violence as a means to introduce change. ( Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV had wanted to be present in the the Magdalo’s case at the Comelec but he was not granted permission by the Makati Regional trial Court.)

Acedillo told Comelec commissioners that their participation in the election process is proof of their advocacy for reform through peaceful means.

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Prosecution witness favors defendants

Published by Ellen on July 17, 2009
Mayuga with Lim and Querubin
Mayuga with Lim and Querubin

Former Flag-officer-in-command Mateo Mayuga was the only witness presented by the prosecution yesterday in the mutiny case against 28 officers implicated in the alleged plan to withdraw support from Gloria Arroyo in February 2006.

Mayuga’s testimony however favored the defendants.

Mayuga, who is more known for the “Mayuga report”- an investigation of the participation of the military in the cheating in the 2004 elections, the results of which have been kept secret by the Arroyo administration, testified about the meeting on Feb. 23, 2006 called by the AFP Chief Generoso Senga.

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