STATE PROSECUTOR COMPLAINED OVER AMNESTY GRANTED TO REBEL SOLDIERS
MANILA, OCTOBER 18, 2010 (MALAYA) By ELLEN TORDESILLAS - The culture of impunity is alive!
The temerity of Juan Pedro Navera, senior state prosecutor, to complain about the decision of President Aquino to grant amnesty to some 300 military officers and soldiers that stood up against Gloria Arroyo shows that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is presiding over an organization where many officials still have a mindset of impunity that characterized the Arroyo administration.
This is a serious challenge to President Aquino's reform agenda especially in the area of anti-corruption. This is as problematic as the issue with an Arroyo loyalist-dominated Supreme Court.
A newspaper report quoted Navera as saying that his seven years of hard work to convict the Magdalo officers and soldiers have come to naught with the issuance by the President of Proclamation 50 giving amnesty to military officers who were allegedly involved the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny, the reported plan to withdraw support from Arroyo following the "Hello Garci" expose in February 2006, and the Manila Peninsula takeover.
The amnesty proclamation renders moot and academic whatever decision of Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati Regional Trial Court trying the coup d'etat case against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and core leaders of the Magdalo.
A newspaper report quoted Navera as saying, "If we want to respect the rule of law, if we want to bow to the court, we should wait for the court decision."
Since when did public prosecutors, reporting to an alter ego of the President, the Secretary of Justice, earn the right to tell the President what he can do and cannot do and when he should do it?
I ask Navera: Is there anything illegal in the President's issuance of Proclamation 50?
If he can't cite anything illegal about it, he should shut up. If he can't shut up, he'd better resign. That would be one less unenlightened person at the Department of Justice.
Navera took pains to say that he was airing his personnel opinion and not necessarily that of his colleagues led by Assistant Chief Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon.
I don't buy that. It is known in the justice department that the reason Fadullon is using Navera to undermine Aquino's reforms in the Department of Justice because he (Fadullon) is eyeing the post of Quezon City prosecutor.
I'd like to borrow lawyer Harry Roque's Facebook entry to remind Navera of his offense against the Filipino people:
"To those ranting against the amnesty, where were you during the darkest days of our democracy? Bet you were with the evil one. Trillanes and company never stole a single centavo from the government. How about the person you defended? Think of the military establishment that allowed Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia and his cohorts to steal millions of pesos from funds that should have been spent buying boots, helmets, and medical equipment for the soldiers risking their lives in the field. Think of the officers including former AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon who participated in subverting the will of the people in the 2004 elections. It was seven years of injustice against the Filipino people. And
Navera is proud of that?"
***
We join those who are calling for the release of the Morong 43 who have been in detention for eight months.
The President has decided to let the cases in court proceed.
Dr. Genevieve Rivera of the Health Alliance for Democracy said in a statement, "Due process does not begin with the courts and legal battles. Due process begins with the presumption of innocence and the protection of human rights, all of which have been blatantly violated in Morong 43."
Rivera further said DOJ and the Commission on Human Rights as well as various national and international organizations are aware of the grossly violative process that led to the arrest, detention, and torture of the 43 community workers.
Rivera said all that is needed to release the Morong 43 is "political will".
President Aquino showed that he has that in the case of military officers and soldiers who rebelled against Arroyo. He can do exercise that again with the Morong 43?
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Lily (Lee) Quesada
Email: leeq@sympatico.ca
leequesada@hotmail.com
www.newsflash.org
"I used to have a life, now I have a computer."
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