Forty alleged participants in the foiled February 2006 coup attempt are in limbo as the Army does not know yet what to do with them.

However, the 40 have been detained since February last year and have been recently transferred to the headquarters of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division in Tanay, Rizal.

Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, Army spokesman, said the military leadership has not decided on whether it will just subject the soldiers to administrative proceedings or have them face a court martial.

Most of the 40 enlisted personnel are Scout Rangers. The Army said some of them were assigned outside Metro Manila during the foiled coup.

Torres said the soldiers are among those accused of plotting to topple the government during the People Power Revolution anniversary last year.

Others detained in connection with the plot are the former Marines commandant, Major Gen. Renato Miranda; the former Army Scout Ranger Regiment commander, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim; and Marine Col. Ariel Querubin.

The military officers are now facing court-martial proceedings at the Army camp in Tanay, Rizal, where they are also detained.

Torres said he only learned about the plight of the soldiers when they were already transferred to Tanay.

As to where they came from and the extent of their participation in the alleged coup, he does not know.

The Army inspector general, who investigated the 40 soldiers, has yet to submit a recommendation to the Army commander.

Torres said letting the enlisted personnel undergo the administrative processes, which penalty ranges from dismissal to a demotion in rank, is faster compared with the court martial wherein the soldiers would undergo a full-blown military trial.

The Philippines is facing roadblocks in committing to the proposed Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with the European Union owing to its problems on extrajudicial killings, undocumented migrant workers in European states as well as perception of rampant corruption.

ACTING Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera on Wednesday ordered all state prosecutors to expedite and prioritize cases of human-rights abuses and extrajudicial killings involving members of the military and police.

THE country’s tuna fishing industry is hurting not because of price fluctuations in the world market, stiff competition from other countries or increasing costs and others, but from the extortion activities of several members of the Maritime Police and the Coast Guard who are deployed on the seas off General Santos City, the country’s tuna capital, to protect them from pirates.

THE shutdown of the sanitary landfill in Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal, was triggered by political squabble between the town mayor and the governor and “other reasons.”

Forty alleged participants in the foiled February 2006 coup attempt are in limbo as the Army does not know yet what to do with them.

WITH exactly 18 days to go before the scheduled barangay elections, the National Police and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) met on Wednesday to step up preparations for the polls.