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A COURT
martial ordered on Tuesday the discharge from the
service of five junior officers it found to have
violated the Articles of War in connection with their
participation in the Oakwood mutiny in Makati City
almost five years ago.
General
Court Martial 1, headed by Brig. Gen Nathaniel Legaspi,
in a joint promulgation of sentence discharged from the
military service Army 1Lts. Lawrence San Juan, Sonny
Sarmiento and Nathaniel Rabonza, Air Force 2Lt.
Christopher Orongan and Army 2Lt. Jason Panaligan.
Aside
from their discharge from the military, the court
martial also sentenced Orongan and Panaligan to seven
years and six months’ imprisonment, but left to
President Arroyo, commander in chief, whether the two
should continue to receive their allowance and salaries
while in jail, which the court set was their present
detention facility in Fort Bonifacio, Makati City.
Orongan
and Sarmiento were convicted of violating Article of War
97 (Conduct Prejudicial to Good Order and Military
Discipline), for joining other members of the Magdalo
group in occupying Oakwood Premier Hotel on February 27,
2003.
Military
prosecutors originally charged the two with violation
of four Articles of War (Disrespect Toward the
President, Mutiny or Rebellion or Both, Conduct
Unbecoming an Officer and a Gentleman and Conduct
Prejudicial to Good Order and Military Discipline), but
on plea bargaining, they pleaded guilty of violating
Article of War 97 in exchange for the dropping of the
other charges.
San Juan,
Sarmiento and Rabonza were convicted of violating
Article of War 96 (Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a
Gentleman).
The
three admitted guilt on April 4 after they reversed
their earlier plea of not guilty.
San Juan
is now being utilized by the government as a witness in
the coup case against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and
several other core leaders of the Magdalo, which is
being heard by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in
Makati
City.
The case is still also an offshoot of the occupation of
Oakwood Hotel.
The same
court earlier convicted six other Magdalo leaders,
including Army Capts. Gerardo Gambala and Milo
Maestrecampo, on the same case after they pleaded
guilty.
The RTC
in Makati is also trying San Juan, Sarmiento and Rabonza
on the coup case.
While
the court martial’s verdict on San Juan, Sarmiento and
Rabonza was brief that it did not specify whether they
should be discharged “honorably” or “dishonorably,”
trial judge advocate (military prosecutor) Col. Pedro
Davila said it should be taken as an dishonorable
discharge because they were convicted by the court.
He
explained that the listed penalty for violation of
Article of War 96 was only dismissal from the service.
In the
case of Orongan and Panaligan, Davila said that AW 97
specified imprisonment as a penalty.
However,
if the court’s decision were to be followed, the two
should have been released immediately after their
sentence was promulgated, as the tribunal took off from
their penalties one-year jail term on each of the three
mitigating circumstances on their case.
The
court noted that Orongan and Panaligan voluntarily
surrendered, exhibited good conduct while in detention
and they have been “detained for long years.”
Both
have been in detention for four years and nine months.
Before
and after the promulgation, the court stressed that its
verdicts are subject to the approval of the President. |
