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By Jayson Cruz Luna, Reporter
SENATOR Rodolfo Biazon testified on Thursday at
the resumption of the trial of rebel Magdalo group saying that the
takeover of the Oakwood Premiere Hotel in 2003 was not a coup
attempt, but a mere expression of grievances by the rebel soldiers.
Biazon told the Makati Regional Trial Court that
unlike the coup attempts during the term of former president Corazon
Aquino, the short-lived mutiny was not directed towards overthrowing
President Gloria Arroyo.
The senator said that the rebel soldiers only
demanded the resignations of then Armed Forces Chief Angelo Reyes
and Generals Hermogenes Ebdane and Victor Corpuz.
Biazon, who was then the Commanding General of
the National Capital Region Defense Command during the December 1989
coup and the Commandant of the Philippine Marines during the August
1987 coup, was one of the prominent personalities who negotiated
with the Magdalo group during the Oakwood crisis.
He was accompanied by Senator Gregorio Honasan,
former Senator Vicente Sotto, former Environment and Natural
Resources Secretary Mike Defensor, and Senior Deputy Chief of Staff
Renato Velasco.
In quoting Biazon, defense counsel Ernesto
Francisco Jr. said the senator recounted in his testimony that he
saw no explosives or snipers from the ranks of the Magdalo soldiers
during the hotel takeover.
The senator added that unlike the Oakwood
mutiny, the coup attempts in 1987 and 1989 were clearly directed to
attacking the Armed Forces Headquarters at Camp Crame and the Malacañang
Palace.
Although the defense claimed Biazon’s
testimony has shaken the prosecution’s allegation, Assistant Chief
State Prosecutor Richard Fadullon said otherwise.
“Although the senator’s testimony was
enlightening to both parties, it was not damaging to [the]
prosecution’s allegation that the Oakwood incident was indeed a
coup d’etat. Let us remember that the coup d’etat incidents he
was recounting in our trial happened before the coup d’etat law
was enacted in October 1990,” Fadullon said.
However, Francisco dispelled Fadullon’s claim,
saying that Biazon is knowledgeable enough to determine whether the
Oakwood incident was a coup or not.
Thirty-one officers, including then Navy
Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes 4th, were charged with staging a coup
before the Makati Regional Trial Court over the Oakwood takeover.
Of the 31, nine recently admitted to the charges
and were sentenced from 12 to 40 years in prison.
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