Criminal charges await Makati siege conspirators

The Department of Justice (DOJ) warned yesterday it is ready to file charges and prosecute the people found to be behind the coup attempt of the rebel soldiers.

DOJ Undersecretary Merceditas Gutierrez said justice officials have been summoned to Malacañang to work on possible rebellion charges the government will file in case it decides to order warrantless arrests, after President Arroyo declared a state of rebellion yesterday.

No political or prominent figures have been named as the ones who may have influenced the young officers to rebel and demand the resignation of Mrs. Arroyo and her Cabinet officials.

Gutierrez expressed confidence the DOJ can pursue stronger cases against those found to have plotted this latest coup attempt, since the Supreme Court had sustained the legality of warrantless arrests during a state of rebellion.

On May 10, 2001, the Supreme Court voted 8-3 to junk the petitions of then senatorial candidates Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Panfilo Lacson asking the tribunal to stop the Philippine National Police (PNP) from making warrantless arrests, which they said is unlawful.

Santiago, Lacson, reelectionist Sen. Gregorio Honasan, former senator Juan Ponce Enrile and then ambassador Ernesto Maceda were ordered arrested by the Arroyo administration without warrants. They had been accused of inciting thousands of loyalists of ousted President Joseph Estrada to storm Malacañang Palace on May 1, 2001.

The Estrada loyalists’ assault was supposed to have signaled the start of a plot to assassinate Mrs. Arroyo and Estrada, and install a civilian-military junta.

Hours after Mrs. Arroyo declared a state of rebellion in 2001, Enrile was arrested on suspicion that he was among the 11 political and military figures who plotted to overthrow the government.

The Supreme Court, however, ruled on May 5, 2001 that the evidence against Enrile was "hearsay" and granted him temporary bail pending his arraignment before a Quezon City regional trial court, which was then hearing the rebellion charges against him.

The ruling, in effect, sustained the legality of the warrantless arrests, the DOJ said.

The government later pulled out the cases it filed against Enrile and others who were also arrested in connection with the May 1, 2001 siege of Malacañang, a DOJ official said.