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President Gloria Arroyo on Monday announced that she had pardoned
nine military officers convicted of mounting a failed coup against
her nearly five years ago. She told reporters that she had approved
a recommendation by outgoing military chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes
Esperon Jr. to pardon the nine junior officers.
The Chief Executive made the announcement during
Esperon’s turnover of his post to Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano. Esperon
is set to retire this month. Another rebel military officer—Marine
Capt. Nicanor Faeldon—said Esperon will leave the service after
allegedly having been “corrupted” by President Arroyo. Faeldon
took part in the coup. Again last year, he joined another attempt by
other junior military officers to topple the President. He has since
been on the run.
Esperon and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez
claimed that the pardon was not absolute.
The military chief described the executive
clemency as “conditional.” Such pardon, he said, “means that
if the officers again engage in adventurism or engage in activities
that involve moral turpitude, punishment could be reimposed.”
Esperon and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro
had recommended to Mrs. Arroyo to pardon the rebel officers.
Teodoro dismissed fears that the President’s
move could send the wrong message that antigovernment forces can
easily get away with the wrong they have done. He said the mutineers
had “repented” and had not escaped even if they had a chance
last year.
Gonzalez said the government “can always take
it [executive clemency] back as it was only conditional, not
absolute.”
The officers who were given executive clemency
are Captains Gerardo Gambala, Milo Maestrecampo, Alvin Ebreo,
Laurence Luis Somera, Albert Baloloy and John Andres; and First
Lieutenants Cleo Dongaas, Florentino Somera and Kristoffer Bryan
Yasay.
Bannering the so-called Magdaló group of
reformists in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, they and about
300 other soldiers mounted a mutiny from the plush Oakwood hotel in
Makati City in July 2003. There, they called on Mrs. Arroyo and her
top generals to step down over alleged corruption. Their rebellion
was put down in less than 24 hours.
After five years in detention and a protracted
trial, the nine junior officers pleaded guilty to coup charges in
civilian court last month.
Gambala and Maestrecampo were sentenced to life
imprisonment while the seven other officers each were given 12-year
jail terms. They were all stripped of their ranks and barred from
rejoining military service. The mutineers subsequently made a
tearful public apology on national television, which Esperon and
other Defense officials said showed “true remorse.”
Twenty-one other officers are still on trial.
Most of the ordinary soldiers accused of taking part in the uprising
have been freed after serving time in military jails.
The young officers “enjoy a certain amount of
public sympathy,” with one of them—former Navy Lieutenant
Antonio Trillanes 4th—winning a seat in the Senate in last
year’s elections.
The influential Roman Catholic Church had warned
Mrs. Arroyo against granting the pardon, saying it would further
encourage military adventurism.
Citing humanitarian grounds, the President also
last year pardoned former President Joseph Estrada, who was
convicted of plunder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Speaker Prospero Nograles led Arroyo allies in
the House of Representatives in expressing support for the
President’s move to pardon the coup plotters.
“Their decision to plead guilty and accept
responsibility for their action should serve as an example to those
who are still in a state of denial for committing a reckless act of
endangering Philippine democracy and the lives and property of our
people,” Nograles said.
Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga said the nine
military officers were “more qualified” than Estrada for pardon.
According to La Union Rep. Thomas Dumpit, Mrs.
Arroyo’s move was a big step toward “unity amid a global
crisis” that has dragged the country.
-- William B. Depasupil, Jefferson Antiporda, Sammy Martin,
Jayson Cruz Luna and AFP
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