By Carlos H. Conde
International Herald Tribune
The New York Times
Published: April 8, 2008
MANILA: A Philippine court on Tuesday sentenced nine military officers to prison terms of up to 40 years for participating in a 2003 coup attempt against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The officers were among 31 accused of raiding and occupying a hotel in Manila’s business district on July 27, 2003, protesting corruption in the military and demanding reforms.
The daylong mutiny ended with the officers surrendering to the authorities.
Judge Oscar Pimentel, who presided over the five-year trial, sentenced two officers - Captain Gerardo Gambala and Captain Milo Maestrecampo of the army’s Scout Rangers - to 40 years and the other seven to sentences ranging from 6 to 12 years.
Prosecutors said the sentences were harsher than they had expected.
“The decision caught us by surprise,” said Richard Fadullon, one of the prosecutors, adding that they had requested a maximum 20-year sentence for the leaders.
The military chief of staff, General Hermogenes Esperon, said: “Our judicial system is taking its due course. I appreciate them for having pleaded guilty.”
The fact that the accused changed their pleas last week to guilty raised speculation that the officers had reached a deal with the prosecution.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers denied a plea bargain had been arranged. However, Trixie Angeles, a lawyer representing several of the accused, said the officers could now expect a presidential pardon because they changed their plea.
“It would be normal for us to expect pardon,” Angeles told reporters Tuesday.
She said Esperon was “instrumental” in the officers’ decision to plead guilty.
Last December, 53 soldiers who were jailed for the same coup attempt were released after pleading guilty.
Several of the accused in the 2003 mutiny, including Gambala and Maestrecampo, had publicly apologized to Arroyo.
Prosecutors had argued that the mutiny was part of a larger plot to oust Arroyo and install a civilian-military junta.
Since she took power in a 2001 uprising against President Joseph Estrada, Arroyo has faced numerous allegations of corruption.
A navy lieutenant, Antonio Trillanes, who led the 2003 mutiny, alleged that corruption was so rampant in the armed forces that soldiers were dying because of inadequate supplies and facilities, a charge the military denied.
He also accused the military and the Arroyo administration of having had a hand in bombings in the southern Philippines that killed many civilians, a charge that the government also dismissed.
Trillanes and another mutiny leader, Captain Nicanor Faeldon of the Marines, are facing a criminal trial on the same charges and a separate court-martial.
Last November, Faeldon, Trillanes and other military personnel walked out of court and briefly occupied another Manila hotel, calling for Arroyo’s resignation.
Faeldon remains at large after having escaped from a police dragnet during that incident.
Trillanes ran for a Senate seat and won, even though he remains in detention awaiting a verdict.
