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By Jayson Cruz Luna Contributor
The trial of detained Sen.
Antonio Trillanes 4th and 30 other junior officers in volved in the
Oakwood mutiny resumes today with the presentation by the defense of
former Socio-economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos as witness.
Lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr.,
counsel for Trillanes, said Santos will testify on the agreement
reached between the Philippine National Oil Corp. Exploration Corp.
and the Malaysian firm Petronas Carigali for a mining exploration
project at the Liguasan Marsh in North Cotabato.
He said the testimony of Santos
and the documents he would bring would shed light on the “reason
behind the decision of the junior officers to barricade themselves
at the Oakwood Hotel Premier and call for the withdrawal of support
to the government last July 27, 2003.”
“We are going back to the real
reason why these soldiers went to Oakwood last 2003,” Francisco
said in a phone interview.
A subpoena to Santos and former
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman was issued by
Makati Regional Trial Judge Oscar Pimentel requiring them to attend
the Thursday hearing. But Soliman begged off since she is attending
a conference in Cambodia.
But Soliman will testify upon her
return later this month, Francisco said.
As former Social Welfare
secretary, Francisco said Soliman will testify on the effects of the
military’s offensive last February 2003, purportedly against
elements of the Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom group at the Buliok
complex in Pikit, North Cotabato that led to the evacuation of more
than 300,000 residents.
The offensive also resulted in
the deaths of hundreds of combatants from both sides, including 161
members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), whom the
military said was offering sanctuary to criminal elements.
Soliman, along with other Cabinet
secretaries, left the government in 2005 after allegations of
election manipulation surfaced against President Gloria Arroyo.
Francisco also wanted Energy
Secretary Angelo Reyes to testify but Pimentel denied this.
Reyes was then the Armed Forces
chief when the Buliok offensive was launched.
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