Board recommends dismissal of ‘plotters’ - Malaya 07.21.2006

FORTY officers and over 100 enlisted personnel who have been recommended for pre-trial investigation preparatory to court martial also face dismissal proceedings, a military board that investigated the supposed plot to overthrow the Arroyo government in February said yesterday.

The dismissal proceedings were part of the recommendations that the board, headed by Rear Adm. Rufino Lopez, AFP inspector general, submitted to outgoing AFP chief Gen. Generoso Senga who approved the board’s findings and recommendations Wednesday, or two days before he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56 today.

He will be replaced by Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon.

Lopez told a press conference yesterday that the dismissal proceedings will be pursued parallel to the pretrial investigation against the officers for violation of several provisions of the Articles of War.

Lopez named former Marines commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, sacked commander of the Army’s First Scout Ranger Regiment, and Marines Col. Ariel Querubin, former chief of the 2nd Marine Brigade, as among the officers recommended for pre-trial and dismissal proceedings.

On Wednesday, AFP information chief Col. Tristan Kison said 40 officers (25 from the Army and 15 from the Marines) and 135 enlisted personnel will face pretrial.
But Lopez said his recommendation covered only 125 soldiers.

"The officers (should) be charged and tried before their Major Services’ Efficiency and Separation Boards (ESB) to determine their fitness to remain in the military service," Lopez said.

Lopez was quoting from the board’s recommendation to Senga dated July 7.
In the case of the 125 enlisted personnel. Lopez said, they "shall undergo further investigation and summary dismissal proceedings."

The 125 are mostly from the Army’s First Scout Ranger Regiment.

"The ESB is going to determine their fitness in remaining with the service," said Lopez, without naming the 37 other officers recommended to face the ESB and pretrial investigation.

Lopez said the dismissal proceedings against the officers and men should have started upon Senga’s approval of the board’s recommendation.

STRIPPED OF POSTS

Lopez also said some of the 40 officers who were not relieved from their post when the supposed overthrow plan was discovered would be removed from their current assignments. He could not say how many they are.

A draft of the report that was leaked to the media about two weeks ago mentioned a number of Marine officers who are still occupying sensitive posts as among those recommended for court martial.

The officers included Lt. Col. Achilles Segumalian, head of the 2nd Marine Battalion Landing Team which was deployed to Tawi-tawi last month, Marines chief of staff Lt. Col. Armando Banez who resigned in July, and Maj. Melquiades Ordiales, commander of the 9th Marine Battalion Landing Team stationed in Sulu.
Asked if the officers would be immediately relieved of their posts, Lopez said: "That’s going to be the process…They will be given to the custody of their immediate commanding officers in preparation for their trial and investigation by the PTI (pretrial investigation board)."

Kison said the relief of the officers took effect yesterday as recommended by the fact-finding board but it was not clear if they were already under the custody of their immediate superiors.

Lopez said the charge sheet against the officers have been already prepared for the pretrial investigation panel.

"So after the PTI panel the next step is the creation of the court martial by the chief of staff," he said.

The 40 officers face charges for violation of the Articles of War 67 (mutiny or sedition), 68 (failure to suppress or report mutiny or sedition), 63, disrespect to the President, 64 (disrespect towards a superior officer), 96 (conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman), and 97 (conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline).

The other recommendations of the board and approved by Senga were the referral of the case to the justice department, and withholding of pay of the officers and men as approved by the President of those found with probable cause.

The board also recommended that officers involved in past coup or destabilization attempts be barred from commanding special units such as the Special Operations Command, First Scout Ranger Regiment, Philippine Marine Corps, Navy Special Operations Group (formerly the Special Warfare Group), Special Operations Wing of the Air Force, Presidential Security Group, Light Armor Brigade, training commands and major tactical units.

"They shall likewise be barred from occupying sensitive staff positions in the AFP such as intelligence, operations, IG (Inspector General), PMG (Provost Marshal General) and DND (Department of National Defense) military positions," said Lopez.

Miranda, Lim and Querubin, who were among the officers involved in the failed coups in the late 80s, supposedly planned to lead their men to anti-government rallies at the Edsa Shrine on Feb. 24 and subsequently withdraw their support from President Arroyo.

The board also asked the AFP to draft policies similar to the US whistleblowers law and its implementing rules "to protect whistleblowers from unwarranted retaliatory measures or reprisals from those being complained of."

"This will encourage persons who have knowledge on irregularities or anomalies in the AFP units to come out openly without fear," it added.

Lopez said Esperon and Navy chief Vice Adm. Mateo Mayuga were among the 39 officers invited by the board as resource persons in the course of its investigations.

Asked if Senga was invited by the board to shed light because of his crucial role in quelling the plot, Lopez said: "He created our panel, he was the one who created it so why should we investigate him?"

Asked if the planned withdrawal of support was tantamount to mutiny, Lopez said: "There were troop movements. There were planning sessions and there were also several meetings of some of the officers who were involved. Under our military justice system, by our Articles of War, that is tantamount to those things."

‘OPLAN GEMSTONE’

When asked if the groups of Lim and Miranda plotted to attack Malacañang, Lopez said: "There was an `Operations Gemstone’ which is part of the overall plan and this entails attacks on vital facilities, secure or take on the leadership and Malacañang."

On what they were supposed to do with the President, Lopez said: "The witness account says they will secure the President, chief of staff, and chief PNP. It did not (specifically) say what they will do."

Another officer investigated for the alleged overthrow plot, Maj. Jason Aquino, appeared before the NBI yesterday and submitted an affidavit denying involvement in the supposed plot.

"As an officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, I have sworn to support the chain of command and the duly-constituted authorities and continue to do so. I have never withdrawn my support for the chain of command. I have never taken up arms against the government or the AFP," Army Maj. Jason Aquino, Lim’s former operations officer, said in a three-page affidavit.

He said he was detained "for no apparent reason" at the Intelligence Service Security Group in Fort Bonifacio on Feb. 27. – Victor Reyes, JP Lopez and Dennis Gadil