Military: Case vs alleged coup plotters faces 'long process'

April 10, 2006
Updated 01:45pm (Mla time)
Joel Francis Guinto
INQ7.net


A "LONG" process is required before the military decides whether to subject Brigadier General Danilo Lim and at least 19 other Army officers to a court martial over the failed February 24 coup, a spokesman said Monday.

The Armed Forces Inspector General, which is consolidating the investigation reports of the Philippine Army and the Philippine Navy, is "careful that due process will not be violated," Major General Jose Angel Honrado said.

"It's still undergoing review. I would like to ask our people to be more patient because this is going to take a long process, especially the review portion because this involves the careers [of the officers involved]," Honrado told a news conference in Camp Aguinaldo.

Honrado added that Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Generoso Senga did not give a deadline for the Inspector General, Rear Admiral Rufino Lopez, to finish the review.

"If we give a deadline, people would want to beat the deadlines. They will rush things… We assure [the public] that it's going through a thorough, transparent, and honest to goodness review," Honrado said.

In his report to Senga last March 22, Army Chief Lieutenant General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. recommended that Lim and 19 other officers be tried before a court martial for allegedly planning to join anti-government rallies on EDSA last February 24 and then withdraw support from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Philippine Marines, which is under the Philippine Navy, also investigated its men, but for their participation in the February 26 standoff, led by Colonel Ariel Querubin at their Fort Bonifacio headquarters, not the botched coup.

The standoff was caused by the sudden relief of the Marines' commandant, Major General Renato Miranda.

The Navy forwarded the Marines investigation report to General headquarters last April 3.

In a recent interview with reporters, Senga said he was not rushing the review of these reports.

"We have to do this [investigation] properly, not just to satisfy the clamor to rush it… Those investigated should be given due process," Senga said.

If Lopez finds probable cause against the accused, he would forward the case to the Judge Advocate General's Office (JAGO).

The JAGO will then start a pre-trial investigation and recommend to Senga whether the accused should be tried before a court martial.