MANILA — Citing lack of evidence, a court yesterday dismissed rebellion charges yesterday against former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., a retired Catholic bishop and 16 other civilians who were arrested during a failed attempt by dissident soldiers to spark an uprising against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last month.
Judge Elmo Alameda of the Makati City Regional Trial Court ruled that there was “no probable cause to indict the accused civilians for rebellion.”
But Alameda upheld the prosecutors’ indictment of 15 soldiers and three former military personnel, including Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV — a former navy officer facing separate charges of mutiny in 2003. The judge ordered the continued detention of Trillanes along with Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, former commander of the army’s elite Scout Ranger Regiment who is facing rebellion charges for his alleged role in a failed uprising attempt in February 2006.
With Trillanes and Lim were Capt. Gary Alejano and Segundino Orfiano; Lts. Senior Grade James Layug, Manuel Cabochan, Eugene Gonzalez, and Andy Torrato; 1st Lt. Jonnel Sanggalang; Lt. Junior Grade Arturo Pascua Jr.; Ensign Armand Pontejos; 1st Lt. Billy Pascua; Cpl. Clecarte Dahan; Privates First Class Juanito Jilbury, Emmanuel Tirador, and German Linde; and ex-Petty Officers 3 Julius Mesa and Cesari Gonzalez.
Ordered released were Guingona, Bishop Julio Labayen, former University of the Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo, artist Bibeth Orteza Siguion-Reyna, Trillanes’ brother Antonio Trillanes III, activist priest Robert Reyes, lawyers JV Bautista and Argee Guevarra, Myrna Buendia, Dominador Rull Jr., Romeo Solis, Roel Gadon, Rommel Loreto, Julian Advincula, Francisco Bosi, Leodor dela Cruz, Sonny Madarang, and Francisco Peñaflor.
Police were hunting for at least four officers who escaped, all of whom were facing mutiny charges along with Trillanes.
On Nov. 29, Trillanes and his cohorts walked out of a court hearing in Makati and marched to the Peninsula Hotel, which they occupied in an attempt to drum up support for the ouster of President Arroyo. The 18 civilians joined them during the six-hour standoff that ended when government forces stormed the hotel. During the takeover, Lim issued a statement urging Arroyo to resign and asked the armed forces to withdraw support for her.
The move failed to mobilize the public or sway the military, however.
Judge Alameda said the presence of and anti-government statements made by former Vice President Guingona and the other 17 civilians at the hotel on Nov. 29 did not make them conspirators, and ordered their immediate release from detention.
“This is a vindication of what transpired, which is a valid exercise of our constitutional right to free expression,” Argee Guevarra, one of the detained civilians, was quoted by his lawyer Triccie Angeles as saying. “It was a manifestation of our resistance against the tyrannical and morally bankrupt Arroyo regime.”
Arroyo has survived three previous coup attempts and three opposition impeachment bids over alleged corruption and human rights abuses during her seven tumultuous years in power. (With reports by agencies)
