MAYUGA REPORT
MANILA,
AUGUST 22, 2011 (STANDARD)
COURT of Appeals Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes, who once served as finance
manager of a security agency owned by President Aquino's family, has been
appointed as the newest Supreme Court justice.
Chief Justice Renato Corona told reporters Friday that Malacañang had
transmitted Reyes' appointment papers to the Supreme Court.
Reyes served as vice president and finance manager from 1987 to 1990 of Best
Security Agency Inc., a security agency set up by Benigno Aquino III and his
uncle, construction magnate Antolin Oreta,
The future Philippine president was the security agency's vice-president,
treasurer and director at the time.
Reyes, 64, was appointed Supreme Court justice despite having been
reprimanded by the high court in 2008 for discourtesy in handling an
intra-corporate case involving Manila Electric Co. and the Government Service
Insurance System.
Reyes signed a decision favoring Manila Electric Co. even before Court of
Appeals Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez could decide which of the court's two
divisions should resolve the case.
The Meralco-GSIS case exposed serious ethical issues, prompting the Supreme
Court to investigate accusations of bribery. Reyes then faced a Supreme Court
panel that eventually reprimanded him for simple misconduct.
According to the Newsbreak magazine, two members of the Judicial and Bar
Council did not vote for Reyes: Senator Francis Escudero and Iloilo Rep. Niel
Tupas.
Aside from reprimanding him, the Supreme Court also admonished Reyes in 2001
for failing to immediately resolve a motion in a civil case.
Reyes' appointment filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice
Eduardo Nachura and left only one seat unfilled—that vacated by Conchita Carpio-Morales.
That vacancy remains to be filled by Malacañang from the following candidates
submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council whose members are all Court of Appeals
justices: Jose Reyes, Magdangal de Leon, Estela Bernabe, and Japar Dimaampao.
Reyes, 64, a native of Bulacan, finished law from the San Beda College in
1971 and passed the Bar that same year with a rating of 81.6 percent.
Reyes worked as vice president for legal and corporate affairs of the R.C.
Silverio Group of Companies from 1975 to 1981. In 1982 he founded the law firm
Reyes, Daway, Lim, Bernardo and Lindo in Makati.
He acted as chairman, director, president or corporate secretary of various
corporations including the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. and Celebrity
Sports Plaza.
Reyes was appointed judge of the Malabon Regional Trial Court in 1990 during
the presidency of Corazon Aquino. He was later appointed to the Court of Appeals
in 2000 by then President Joseph Estrada.
Reyes was born on July 6, 1947, in Obando, Bulacan, to spouses Fidel Reyes
and Timotea Lorenzo Reyes. He is married to Teresita Jacinta Reyes by whom he
has two sons.
FROM MALAYA INSIGHTS ON 2004 POLL FRAUD
COVER-UP
Critics told: Read Mayuga Report before shooting off
BY VICTOR REYES
[2010 AP PHOTO - GMA & EMILIO MARAYAG:
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, third from right, salutes as she
leads the heroes welcome Tuesday Feb. 2, 2010 at Villamor Air Base in Manila to
honor the four Filipino soldiers of the UN Peacekeeping forces in Haiti who were
killed in the devastating earthquake in Haiti last month. Two more Filipinos
remained missing in the 7.0 magnitude quake that killed more than 150,000
people. At right is Vice-admiral Emilio Marayag Jr., Armed Forces of the
Philippines deputy chief of staff]
A MEMBER of the military board that looked into the alleged involvement of
officers in cheating in the 2004 presidential elections yesterday said sectors
claiming cover-up in their probe should first read the voluminous report instead
of making "knee jerk" reactions.
"If they are saying there was cover-up, they have to point it out one by
one," said retired Vice Adm. Emilio Marayag, now president of the AFP Retirement
and Separation Benefits System. "They just have to read the entire report,
including the annexes…how can they react (immediately) to a report that is so
thick?"
The report has a 16-page summary and a 65-page annex containing testimonies
given by the so-called Garci generals and other resource persons, including
civilians.
The defense department furnished a copy of the recently declassified report
to Bayan Muna Reps. Neri Javier Colmenares and Teodoro Casiño last Wednesday.
The two lawmakers then said there was cover-up.
"They have to look at every testimony and they have to look at all the angles
before saying things like that. It took us a long time (to investigate)…if we
spent about four months (in conducting the) investigation, they should spend a
lot of time also, looking at, reading at the report...They have to check before
coming up with a conclusion," Marayag said.
The Mayuga board, chaired by Vice Adm. Mateo Mayuga, cleared the Garci
generals in alleged cheating operations conducted by the Arroyo administration.
Its report said "there is no statement from the resource persons directly
linking them or signifying their involvement to any election fraud or anomaly."
Marayag said the critics should take more to read the report. "An author said
that it's easy to jump to a conclusion (but) it is difficult to justify the
conclusion. It's easy to come out with a conclusion but to justify is another
thing," said Marayag.
Marayag also stood pat on their findings, stressing there is no "shred of
evidence" against "those people we would like to pin down," referring to the
Garci generals. He said they did not gather evidence that the generals issued
"direct instructions" to cheat.
Marayag said critics should to read the minutes of inquiries conducted by
Congress.
Marayag, then a commodore, said he never received any instruction from higher
authorities to cover up the case.
He said it is unfair for the military to be blamed for the supposed cover-up.
He said the members of the Mayuga board "just tried our best."
AFP spokesman Commodore Miguel Jose Rodriguez said the military believes in
the fairness of the investigation.
"We don't see any cover-up...We don't see any intent for cover-up... We
believe in the presumption of regularity of the report," he said.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin has created a special investigating
committee to review the Mayuga board report, on the instruction of President
Aquino who has reservations on the credibility of the report.
DND spokesman Col. Hernando Iriberri said the committee, chaired by
Undersecretary Honorio Azcueta, submitted its initial findings to the President,
through Gazmin last Monday.
He did not give details.
Iriberri also said the committee is considering summoning active military
officers who have been invited as resource persons in the Mayuga board
investigation "to shed more light on the discrepancies, for example in the
findings, in the recommendations, in the conclusions submitted by the Mayuga
fact-finding board."
The officers invited as resource persons in the Mayuga board investigation
who are still in the service include now Army chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz, 6th
Infantry Division chief Maj. Gen. Rey Ardo, and Rear Adm. Feliciano Angue.
EARLIER REPORT FROM GMANEWS TV
PNoy: Mayuga report did not implicate Arroyo in alleged '04
poll fraud GMANews – Wed, Aug 3, 2011
President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday said the Mayuga report — the
product of an inquiry that looked into the alleged involvement of military
officials in the purported fraud that marred the 2004 polls — did not implicate
former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at all.
In an interview with reporters in Malacañang, Aquino said this was because
the probers at the time changed their line of questioning when the answers of
the resource persons were beginning to point to the former Philippine leader.
"I don't recall that it pointed in that particular direction (involvement of
Mrs. Arroyo). Ang issue nga kasi parang mag-uumpisa na baka tumungo dun hininto
yung pagtatanong dun sa linyang yun tapos chinange topic," he said.
The report was prepared by former Navy Flag Officer-in-Command Vice Admiral
Mateo Mayuga, who headed the panel tasked to look into the alleged involvement
of several military officers in the 2004 "poll fraud."
Asked if there was a deliberate attempt on the part of the panel not to
implicate Mrs. Arroyo on the alleged 2004 electoral fraud, Aquino said he cannot
say.
"Mahirap sabihin yan dahil you are talking already of intentions. How do you
prove intentions? There are lawyers who tell us that it is very difficult to
unearth what was operating in the mind of the person at that time," he said.
Aquino said he only read the briefer on the Mayuga report and it was the
Presidential Management Staff that reviewed the documents contained in six
boxes.
"Ang sabi nga nila (PMS) paulit ulit, nung napupunta sa delicate topic
nililihis yung line of questioning by those who were [doing the] questioning,"
he said.
Past prescriptive period
He further said that those supposedly involved in the fraud could no longer
be indicted under the Omnibus Election Code as it is now past the prescriptive
period of five years.
"Nandun na tayo sa [prescriptive] period, five years yung time limit bago
magsampa ng kaso. Paalala ko lang June 30, 2010 tayo nakapasok sa pwesto... by
that time [na] nandun [na] tayo, tapos na," he said.
"Kung ang habol natin dito e yung eleksyon ng 2004, hindi na linyang bukas sa
atin yung paghahabla under the Omnibus Election Code," he added.
Find other violations
Because of this, Aquino said he ordered Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to
study the Mayuga report and see if she will find other violations of the law.
"Pinag-aaralan ngayon ng DOJ ano ba ang mga pwedeng violations of the law na
hindi election related na lang. Merong mga allegations na me dumadalaw na mataas
na mga opisyal o kung hindi man opisyal matataas na mga tao nung dating
administrasyon sa mga kampo bago nung halalan. Ano yung instructions etc,"
Aquino said.
He believed the DOJ can make use of the testimonies of those who earlier
surfaced to expose the supposed election fraud such as retired Marine Brig. Gen.
Francisco Gudani.
"May mga lumantad at nagsalita tulad ni Gen. Gudani na pwedeng mabalikan muli
at mabigyan ng pagkakataon na masabi lahat ng kanilang nalalaman," he said.
"Baka me violations sa Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Andaming
potential na pwedeng pasukan. Ang sinasabi lang natin ay yung elections (nung
2004) mismo ay hindi kabahagi," he said.
Review of Mayuga report
De Lima, for her part, said the Mayuga report will be part of the documents
to be reviewed by the joint committee of the DOJ and Commission on Elections.
"Yung Mayuga report ay kasama sa irereview ng joint committee because that
can be the jump off dun sa mga titignan namin na participation ng military
officers and personnel," she said.
"Kagaya ng sinabi ni Presidente na may mga kulang kulang, may gaps, kung
masyadong sensitibo yung usapin ay nalilihiis in the course of the
investigation. We will find out exactly what are those gaps and kung pwede pa
matanong yung mga issues na yun sa involved personalities," she added.
De Lima believed that the report, though cannot be used to file cases against
those involved in the 2004 electoral fraud, will be able to shed light on other
issues.
"Kung meron nga talagang hindi na pwedeng makasuhan then at least andyan on
record merong findings, andyan ang katotohanan, yun naman ang pinaka-agenda
natin-- yung katotohanan," she said. — RSJ, GMA News
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
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