JAMES LAYUG "MAGDALO" for Congressman

By Ellen Tordesillas
April 9, 2010

A military tribunal sentenced on Wednesday to eight months in prison 10 former military officers from the reformist group Magdalo for their their participation in the November 2007 incident at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City, their lawyer said yesterday.

The 10, led by Magdalo core leaders Lt. (sg) James Layug and Capt. Gary Alejano, were given the light verdict after pleading guilty to all the four remaining charges filed against them before the court headed by Maj. Gen. Eduardo Oban.
The eight other officers were Lts. (sg) Eugene Gonzales, Andy Torrato, Manuel Cabochan; Capt Dan Orfiano; Lt. (jg) Arturo Pascua; and 1Lts. Billy Pascua, Jonnel Sangalang, and Armand Pontejos.

Lawyer Ed Abaya said his clients pleaded guilty to charges of violation of Articles of War 63 (disrespect to the President), 96 (conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman), 97 (conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline) and 70 (escape from confinement). The charge of mutiny was dropped.

Abaya said he and his clients tried to enter into a plea bargaining agreement, by pleading guilty to one of the charge in exchange for the dropping of the three other offenses, but the prosecution opposed it.

Abaya said the court, in handing down the sentence, credited the detention of his clients since the commission of the alleged crime. The accused actually have been in detention since July 2003 for their participation in what is called Oakwood mutiny.

On November 28, 2007, the ten officers together with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim walked out of the hearing of their coup d’etat case at the sala of Judge Oscar Pimentel at the Makati Regional Court and proceeded to the Manila Peninsula where they declared withdrawal of support from Gloria Arroyo.

Last February , Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Elmo Alameda granted the petition for bail of the accused who include Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Brig.Gen. Danilo Lim, the ten officers and six former enlisted men saying that what happened in Nov 2007 was not rebellion but simply contempt of court. He set a P200,000 bail for each of the accused.

The six enlisted men were released on bail. Alejano, who is running for mayor in Sipalay, Negros Occidental and James Layug, who is running for congressman in the second district of Taguig city, posted bail but the military took custody of them because of the court martial case. They are now detained at the ISAFP compound in Camp Aguinaldo.
The eight other officers are detained in Camp Crame custodial center.

Trillanes was not included in the court martial case because he was no longer in the military at the time of the Manila Pen incident.

Capt Nicanor Faeldon, who escaped during the Manila Pen siege, was also charged with mutiny and several other charges.

Abaya said the latest development will pave the way for his clients’ eventual freedom. “They are going o go out. Their period of detention is more than two years (since the Manila Peninsula Hotel siege).They should be ordered released, unless there are pending cases before the military tribunal,” he said.

Abaya said the verdict would be referred to Armed Forces chief Gen. Delfin Bangit, the court’s convening authority, for review. Nevertheless, he said he expects the military leadership to uphold the the court’s decision.- with report by Victor Reyes

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By Paolo Romero
The Philippine Star; March 20, 2010

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang yesterday assured the public there would be no failure of elections this May but warned of a possible military takeover in the ensuing chaos arising from such an event.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Charito Planas said President Arroyo is definitely stepping down on June 30 and arrangements were already laid out for a peaceful turnover to the next chief executive.

Planas made the statement amid talks of a possible failure of the country’s first nationwide automated elections allegedly being orchestrated by the administration to prolong Mrs. Arroyo’s stay in power, starting with the appointment of her trusted generals to top posts in the military.

Planas noted that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile issued a similar warning of a possible military junta taking over in the event of political turmoil arising from a failure to install a new president by June 30.

“It’s possible that the military would take over. That’s possible as military juntas have taken over in several countries in Southeast Asia,” Planas told a news briefing.

When asked whether the President is prepared to remain in office while waiting for the new president to be proclaimed, Planas said: “Let’s look at the Constitution.”

“It’s not the President who will say: ‘I want to remain here.’ It’s the situation and the Constitution that will dictate what will happen,” Planas said but did not elaborate.

Planas, however, stressed the possibility of a failure of elections occurring is extremely remote.

She said the public should not confuse delays or failures in the transmission or canvassing of voting results as failure of elections.

Once the votes are cast, the elections have successfully occurred, Planas said.

Even in past elections where votes were counted manually, Planas said the declaration of failure of elections was only limited to certain areas or polling precincts.

Presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo, for his part, said there has never been a general declaration of a failure of elections in the country’s political history.

“Even with the manual counting of votes. Now there will be automated counting in most precincts, with no more than 30 percent manual count in a worst case scenario, Hence, there is nil chance of failure,” Saludo said, citing the argument of election lawyer Romulo Macalintal.

Even in the face of ceaseless arguments that the May 10 elections is likely to fail, Saludo assured this would not happen.

“Our elections have never failed. Neither will the 2010 polls, even if all our votes are counted by hand,” Saludo said.

Malacañang earlier called on the public to support the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ensure the successful holding of peaceful and honest polls on May 10.

Critics had warned the power crisis in Mindanao is only the dry run of the plan to stage a failure of elections.

The opposition Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of former President Joseph Estrada said Malacañang is exerting all efforts to allow Mrs. Arroyo to stay in power.

“And now that its end is near, the whole country is witnessing how this administration appears to be using every trick in the book to extend its hold on power even when our people are clearly eager to replace it through the ballot,” PMP spokesman Ralph Calinisan said.

Opposition Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Delfin Bangit would be forced to retain Mrs. Arroyo in power if a failure of election is declared on May 10 where no president and vice president are proclaimed.

Rodriguez said no one among her constitutional successors could serve as head of state since the terms of Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Enrile and Speaker Prospero Nograles will all lapse on June 30 along with Mrs. Arroyo.

For his part, Bangit said he would not go beyond his oath of providing security in case a failure of election occurs in May.

Bangit also appealed to critics to spare the military from political intrigues.

“I already made my statement. I won’t repeat it anymore. I have my oath and it will be to protect and to support the Constitution, nothing more, nothing less…I will not go beyond my oath,” he said.

AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Jr. said the military has no intention of taking over the government in the event that no president is proclaimed or to lengthen President Arroyo’s stay in power.

“Our mandate is to provide security. In case there is a failure of elections, our mandate is very clear. We will come in to maintain peace and order. That’s all,” Brawner said.

Brawner said the AFP would only come in to help the Philippine National Police (PNP) restore order if a failure of elections is declared.

Brawner said such intervention by the military would ensure the constitutional provisions on succession would be upheld. – With Alexis Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano

This video was shown at the anti cha-cha rally in Makati last June 10, 2009.

Message of Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim delivered by Mrs. Aloi Lim at the Stop Con-Ass rally in Makati, June 10, 2009

Aloy Lim

Ang Hukbong Sandatahan ay instrumento ng taong bayan.
Protektor ito ng mamamayan at ng estado.
Hindi nito obligasyon ang sang-ayunan ang katiwalian ng administrasyon.

Hindi trabaho ng AFP ang mandaya sa eleksyon.
Hindi dapat binibigyan ng premyo ang mga heneral na mahilig magbenta ng serbisyo sa mga politico.

At lalong hindi gawain ng sundalo ang pumatay sa mga aktibista, mga mamamahayag at mga taong walang kasalanan at walang kalaban laban.

Nuong isang linggo, nag issue ako ng statement at sinabi ko duon, “I, therefore, call on every officer and enlisted man to follow your conscience and do what is right – PROTECT THE PEOPLE AND THE STATE!”

Nakikita natin ngayon na habang tumatagal, mas lumalakas ang loob ng administrasyong ito.
Hindi na sila nahihiya.
Hindi na sila nagaalala na lumalabag sila ng batas.
Hindi na rin sila nahuhuli. Hinuhuli na lang ang mga may prinsipyo. (more…)

“Multiply the corruption culture in the Armed Forces by a thousand times and you’ll get the true state of corruption in our government bureaucracy. Only when we acknowledge that there is a problem in our system could we start looking for solutions. The AFP leadership should listen to the message and not shoot the messenger…James Layug”

Streetwise
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo

One brave woman

Should Lieutenant First Grade Nancy Gadian manage to live to tell her story about anomalies and corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP), she will have carved a niche for herself among the thinning ranks of today’s whistleblowers. For Lt. Gadian has all the disadvantages working against her. She is a junior officer accusing a general; she is not a graduate of the fiercely fraternal Philippine Military Academy; and, not least of all, she is a woman in a time-honored bastion of machismo. She will have trumped her military detractors, persecutors and wannabe assassins (those engaged in character assassination as well as the more physical kind) without having to launch an armed rebellion to gain attention. (more…)