Exploiting the truth

Ten years after they have been convicted by final judgment, the 15 soldiers who participated in the Aquino-Galman double murder are still trying to play upon the celebrated case with some "revelations" which they claim will unmask the real mastermind behind the twin slayings. If their purpose is to secure an acquittal, it is rather too late.

They already knew these alleged "revelations" since 1983 when the crime was committed. Assuming that fear kept them from talking at that time, that fear ceased to exist after Edsa I when a full-blown re-trial was conducted in an atmosphere of freedom and impartiality. They were given due process in a fair and open hearing where they could have told the Sandiganbayan everything they knew so they could obtain acquittal if they were not really guilty. And even as the Sandiganbayan had already convicted them, the case was still reviewed by the Supreme Court which found no reversible error in the Sandiganbayan decision. In other words their guilt or participation in the double murder had been proven beyond reasonable doubt in a decision that has long attained finality. So there is no way that they could still win freedom at this late stage. The general rule is that once a decision has become final it cannot be reviewed, reversed, modified or corrected anymore, or the case re-tried anew, especially on the highly dubious ground that the accused were prevented from coming out with their evidence due to an imagined fear. The only exception is when a decision is null and void because it was rendered by the court without or in excess of its jurisdiction for not observing due process of law in the conduct of the trial. This is not what happened in this case of the fifteen soldiers (People of the Philippines vs. Magat 332 SCRA 570; Merciales vs. Court of Appeals G.R. No. 124171 March 18, 2002.

Curiously, these soldiers have been playing the same music almost every year from their cells in Muntinlupa. They have been singing the same tune about the "truth" without any lyrics at all. As Representative Noynoy Aquino III said, "they are playing striptease with the truth". If their purpose is really for the sake of truth and in the interest of justice, they should have actually revealed the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the first time they made the announcement several years ago. Apparently, they are only exploiting this "truth" as a bargaining chip as in "we will tell you only if you will set us free" quid pro quo arrangement.

But their ploy is not legally feasible. The "truth" they have been itching to reveal all these years merely refers to the identity of the real mastermind/s of the crime. So any re-opening of the case only involves the trial of the mastermind/s, not a re-hearing on the extent of their participation which has already been proven beyond reasonable doubt in a decision that has long been final. And if the mastermind/s are all dead, their criminal liability by then has been buried with them in their grave, thus making such trial useless.

These soldiers should therefore come out with what they know purely for the sake of truth with no strings attached. Telling the truth may not set them free, physically, but it will release them from a more repressing bondage of a culpable conscience. They may even earn the admiration of a grateful nation who has been longing to see the final denouément to this inglorious chapter in its history.

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