AFP: Pre-trial probe a warning to future coup plotters

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said yesterday the recommendation to subject Army and Marine officers allegedly involved in the failed Feb. 24 coup to pre-trial or preliminary investigation for possible court martial should be a stern warning to those planning to stage another power grab.

AFP spokesman Maj. Gen. Jose Angel Honrado said the recommendation of the investigating body headed by Rear. Adm. Rufino Lopez to subject 25 Army and 15 Marine officers to pre-trial investigation is a strong message that the AFP means business in dealing with adventurism in the military.

"This only shows that we are not lenient in (meting) out punishments to those that would be found guilty. The military justice system is working here," Honrado stressed.

He said the military is in the process of "cleansing its ranks" of "rotten eggs."

Though admitting the presence of rotten eggs in the military as in any other organization, Honrado said the AFP is not lenient when it comes to dealing with putschists from its ranks.

"We allow the military justice system to set its course so that the AFP would be cleansed of these rotten eggs," he said.

Honrado, however, said the officers and servicemen involved in the February coup plot who would re-affirm their loyalty to the chain of command would be given a certain amount of leniency.

"When somebody pleads guilty and admits a crime, he is given a certain degree of leniency, but that is determined by the court as to its extent. When one turns into a state witness, that is another thing," he said.

Honrado stressed the officers and servicemen are presumed innocent until proven guilty of the charges. They are set to undergo pre-trial on Wednesday to determine if there is prima facie evidence to determine if there is a need to convene the general court martial, he said.

A total of 15 Marines, 25 Army officers and as many as 125 servicemen will be investigated after they were named by the military panel investigating the foiled Feb. 24 plot.

The 165 men could face charges and court martial for the plot that prompted President Arroyo to declare a week-long state of emergency.

The ranking officers who will undergo pre-trial investigation include Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Marine Col. Ariel Querubin.

The other officers are Marine Cols. Orlando de Leon and Januario Caringal, Lt. Cols. Achilles Segumalain, Martin Villasan, Reynaldo Ocsan, Armando Bañez, Valentine Hizon, Custodio Parcon and Romulo Gualdrapa, Maj. Francisco Domingo Fernandez and 1Lt. Belinda Ferrer.

The officers and servicemen face the possibility of a court martial for mutiny, failure to report or suppress mutiny, sedition, disrespect toward the President and superior officers, and other violations of the Articles of War.

Miranda was sacked as commandant of the Marines, Querubin lost his command of a Marine brigade, and Lim was stripped of his post as commander of the Army’s elite Scout Ranger Regiment after being implicated in an alleged left-right plot against Mrs. Arroyo on Feb. 24.

Lim was said to have taped a television broadcast to announce his "withdrawal of support" for Mrs. Arroyo as their commander-in-chief.

Lim was supposedly to lead his men on a street march to join a planned opposition demonstration calling for the President’s resignation.

Miranda was sacked from his post in the aftermath of the Feb. 24 plot, supposedly for failing to prevent Marine units from taking part in the plotting.

Querubin protested that sacking by mounting a tense standoff at the Marine headquarters at Fort Bonifacio two days later, but he and his men eventually stood down without bloodshed.

The plot, which supposedly involved elements of the armed communist insurgency, prompted Mrs. Arroyo to declare a week-long state of emergency.