Macahiya’s arraignment postponed

The scheduled arraignment yesterday of Philippine Guardians Brotherhood Inc. spokesman Ernesto Macahiya for coup d’etat charges before the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) was postponed because of technicality.

Branch 148 Judge Oscar Pimentel ruled that the accused cannot be arraigned yet because the Department of Justice (DOJ) has yet to resolve his petition for review filed last March.

The court granted the request of Macahiya’s counsel, lawyer Edwin Cacayurin, for the deferment of the proceeding until after May 17 since the DOJ has 60 days to act on the petition.

Pimentel re-scheduled Macahiya’s arraignment on May 23 to give the DOJ time to study the case.

Macahiya, along with former senator Gregorio Honanan and several other co-accused, is facing coup d’etat charges which stemmed from the Oakwood mutiny staged by the Magdalo group in July 2003.

With a P500,000 bounty on his head, Macahiya was arrested by elements of the  Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Counter-Intelligence Group in Barangay Sto. Niño, Sta. Rosa, Laguna last April 28.

He was initially brought to and detained in Canlubang, Laguna before he was transferred to the Makati City Jail.

In an interview, Macahiya said he is confident that he can win the case and prove that the charges hurled against him are not true for as long as he is given a fair trial.

"We feel that given a fair treatment of justice, we can overcome this… because I’ve been falsely accused," he told newsmen.

Macahiya said he is planning to present before the court a certification from the Development Bank of the Philippines that he was a career executive of the bank and was never a member of the national police or the military.

Asked if he knew the whereabouts of Honasan, he said all communication have been cut since he was arrested but he knows that the senator is still in the country.