Dominguez on military trial: A non-event

CATBALOGAN, Samar — The commander of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division dismissed yesterday as a "non-event" his possible court-martial together with two other officers for their role in the escape of Abu Sayyaf terrorists from La-mitan, Basilan in June last year.

"A court-martial is a very good venue because in a (Senate) hearing, your lawyers cannot cross-examine those accusing you but in a court-martial, they can," Maj. Gen. Romeo Dominguez said.

Dominguez made the remark after Sen. Ramon Magsaysay, chairman of the Senate defense committee, said his panel has finished the draft of a report recommending the court-martial of Dominguez, Col. Juvenal Narcise and Maj. Eliseo Campued.

But Dominguez noted that the Senate report has not even been approved yet by the committee. He expressed confidence that he and the two other officers would be acquitted in a court-martial.

The three officers were in command of troops that failed to capture a band of Abu Sayyaf terrorists, along with their 20 hostages, who escaped from a church-hospital compound in Lamitan, Basilan on June 2 last year although the kidnappers had been surrounded.

Lamitan residents, led by parish priest Rev. Cirilo Nacorda, charged that the military officers colluded with the Abu Sayyaf in exchange for a part of the ransom money that some hostages paid for their release.

But the three officers maintained their innocence and said the Lamitan fiasco was mainly due to the delay in the arrival of reinforcements and the terrorists’ use of the hostages as human shields.

Dominguez said he was eager to appear before a court martial to prove his innocence and contest the findings of the Senate report that was supposedly based on four public hearings, three executive sessions and two ocular inspections where some 50 witnesses testified and some 1,500 documents were gathered.

"If they tell me to appear, I will appear. I don’t have any qualms on that. I have nothing to hide and have never betrayed my oath as an officer," Dominguez said.

He also said he held no rancor for the Senate committee because they were only doing their job as elected officials, but lamented the length of the process.

"It’s too repetitious. If they cannot find a hole in this process, they will use another process just to find holes," he said, stressing that even the Senate committee has not fully approved the draft report although it was already released to the media.

He expressed confidence, however, that lawmakers would likely uphold his innocence as has already been indicated when the bicameral Commission on Appointments confirmed his promotion to major general and the military high command assigned him to a vital position as Eastern Visayas military chief.

"I no longer think about promotions. I’ll be retiring in October 2005 and I’ll leave the service sincere. What we should think about now is what we can do and what we can contribute," he added.