Feliciano panel wraps up mutiny probe today

The Feliciano Commission will hold its last hearing on the July 27 failed mutiny tomorrow, and will submit a full report on Sept. 15.

For today, the six-member independent fact-finding body will review footage taken by closed-circuit cameras in Oakwood Premier Ayala Center apartments, which was taken over by rebel soldiers for some 22 hours before they surrendered peacefully.

The tapes could provide information on how organized the mutineers were, since the junior military officers who led the mutiny earlier claimed their action was "spontaneous."

Some 300 rebel soldiers barricaded themselves in the posh apatment, surrounding it with supposedly booby-trapped explosives, and later aired their demand for President Arroyo and some other government officials to step down.

The panel will question the last batch of witnesses tomorrow, with Ambassador Roy Cimatu, Presidential Security Group chief Col. Delfin Bangit and Lt. (sg) Christopher Magdangal set to take the witness stand. Cimatu was the government’s chief negotiator for the peaceful surrender of the mutineers.

The termination of the hearings, however, does not mean the commission will no longer call additional witnesses to testify or clarify issues, said lawyer Mario Ongkiko, the panel’s chief examiner.

"There is nothing very touchy about it like the Agrava Commission (the reason for its swift resolution)," Ongkiko said, comparing the panel that investigated the 1983 assassination of former senator Benigno Aquino to the Feliciano Commission.

The commission, headed by retired Supreme Court associate justice Florentino Feliciano, has been conducting hearings almost daily, except on weekends, questioning at least three witnesses a day. The hearings started Aug. 12.

The commission hopes to answer three questions about the mutiny — its purposes, root causes, and provocations.

Ongkiko said the panel will divide its report into three parts, with each part answering one question.

In yesterday’s hearing, Maj. Rene Glen Paje reiterated his allegations, which he earlier said during a Senate hearing on the mutiny, that opposition Sen. Gregorio Honasan was involved in the failed military uprising.

The rest of the witnesses — young officers involved in the mutiny — were interviewed behind closed doors.