‘Abat not yet off the hook’

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said yesterday they may charge former defense secretary Fortunato Abat with attempted coup d’état for declaring himself and others with him as part of a "revolutionary transition government" that would replace the Arroyo administration.

Gonzalez said he is not at all threatened by the plan of Abat’s group to file charges against him and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group before the Office of the Ombudsman. Abat claimed CIDG personnel arrested them without a warrant of arrest.

"Just tell them to make my day," Gonzalez said. "I’m not worried about that. They can do what they want."

He added that the Department of Justice is "still evaluating" whether or not to charge Abat and his group with attempted coup d’état, on top of inciting to sedition charges already filed against them.

Gonzalez said that if the government would follow the letter of the law, Abat could be charged with attempted coup d’état and illegal assembly.

At the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan last Wednesday, Abat declared himself as president of a "revolutionary transition government."

On their second day of holding court at Club Filipino, Abat and his colleagues were invited by the police to nearby Camp Crame for questioning. They were later detained.

On Friday, they were brought to the San Juan metropolitan trial court, where prosecutors filed a case for inciting to sedition against them. Charged with Abat were Salvador Enriquez Jr., a former budget secretary and executive vice president of the Government Service Insurance System; Roy Señeres, a former ambassador; and lawyer Carlos Serapio.

The lawyers of the four claimed that their clients violated no laws and that their statements during their two-day stay at Club Filipino were no different from those being uttered by anti-Arroyo street protesters.

Both Abat and Enriquez served in the administration of former President Fidel Ramos, who has repeatedly urged President Arroyo to cut short her term to allow for parliamentary elections in June next year.

Administration congressmen have urged the San Juan court to expedite the resolution of the case against Abat and his co-accused since an early decision on the matter could go a long way in discouraging other people from flouting the law.