All About Trillianes~ He will be convicted.

[footlose]

---

action star jud ni si trillanes.. mura lito lapid og fernando. angay na siya prisohon for life ..

[cebu1029]

mao gyud! sedition! unsa pa'y kaso nila?

[jntio]

dapat ani nya ky bitayon

[I_dontknow]

ok ra sad na ma bilibid cya .cge lng pasikat sa tv pareha ato walkout walkout sa court

[diem]

Whatever his plea, Trillanes will be convicted’
By Paolo Romero With Michael Punongbayan, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Christina Mendez, Jaime Laude, Sandy Araneta
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Philippine Star, http://www.philstar.com/index.php?He...id=20080416103

Detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV will likely be convicted even if he does not plead guilty to charges in connection with the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, like what the nine junior officers did, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol said yesterday.

“If he refuses to plead guilty – and I don’t think he would plead guilty – it does not matter. The trial would continue and the strong evidence would lead to his conviction,” Apostol said.

Apostol noted the refusal of Trillanes to admit his participation in the mutiny, in which he led the Magdalo group of officers in seizing the ritzy Oakwood Premier apartments and rigging it with explosives to highlight their grievances against President Arroyo and other high government officials whom they accused of corruption.

Apostol said it is immaterial for Trillanes to admit his participation in the failed power grab in an effort to draw a lighter sentence or a presidential pardon, which the nine junior officers convicted by the Makati court last week have asked from Malacañang.

“This (mutiny) was a conspiracy where the act of one is the act of all,” Apostol said.

He said the guilty plea and the subsequent conviction of the nine Magdalo officers only strengthened the government’s case against Trillanes and his followers.

Trillanes’ lawyer Reynaldo Robles said the detained lawmaker would not follow the nine convicted officers who are now seeking pardon from President Arroyo.

“His convictions have not changed. Corruption in government persists, it has even worsened,” Robles said.

He said Trillanes respects the decision of the nine military officers.

“They (the nine officers) have been detained for five years. While the senator does not agree with what they did, he will not block their move, especially if it will be for their freedom,” Robles said.

Prerogative

Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano appealed for respect for President Arroyo in her decision on the possible pardon of the “Magdalo 9.”

Yano noted the opposing views on the appeal for pardon made by the nine junior officers, and said he would still support Mrs. Arroyo in her decision to extend clemency to the nine. “My personal opinion is irrelevant,” he said.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro earlier recommended the grant of conditional pardon to the nine convicted officers but were met with criticism from some sectors.

Esperon denied brokering a deal with the nine officers in their change of plea to avail of possible executive clemency after conviction.

Esperon said he merely acted on the request of the junior officers, who after admitting to the offense, have shown remorse in their misdeeds.

He said the nine convicted officers are also hoping to start a new life outside the military service.

Teodoro, for his part, stood pat on his decision to recommend pardon for the nine officers.

He said the defense and military establishments have their reasons why pardon should be granted.

“In our view, pardon is what we recommended and it is up to the President to weigh the pros and cons of these different views before making the decision,” he said.

Two days after their conviction, the Magdalo nine publicly apologized for their misdeeds and asked President to grant them pardon.

The nine officers led by Army Captains Gerardo Gambala and Milo Maestrecampo were sentenced to six to 40 years imprisonment by the Makati Regional Trial Court last week on the crime of coup d’etat.

The court slapped the heavier penalty on Gambala and Maestrecampo, considered the core leaders of the Magdalo group who, along with then Navy Lt. senior grade Trillanes and Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, staged the short-lived mutiny.

Shortly after they publicly apologized last Friday, the nine officers wrote an appeal to the AFP for a recommendation of their application for pardon.

Gambala led the convicted officers in denying reports that they struck a deal with Esperon.

Gambala said one of their reasons why they admitted their mistake is to break away from the Magdalo group which, according to them, had been in tactical alliance with the political opposition and leftist forces.

Gambala said even Trillanes, his “mistah,” who is also among those charged for the Oakwood mutiny, has respected their decision to plead guilty.

Doubts

In a telephone interview with ABS-CBN, Faeldon said he respects the decision of his nine comrades to admit to the Oakwood mutiny and seek presidential pardon. Faeldon admitted it pained him to see his comrades turn their backs on their cause, although he understands why they had to do it.

In the same interview, Faeldon said surrender is not an option for him despite the hardships of being on the run after his escape. Faeldon also detailed how he was able to escape from the Peninsula Manila hotel in November last year.

He disputed police claims that he disguised himself as a journalist and was aided by a reporter in his escape. Faeldon though admitted changing into civilian clothes and simply walking out of the hotel during the confusion caused by the standoff.

In the interview, Faeldon praised Trillanes for maintaining his fight against the administration even after their nine comrades have bowed out and asked for pardon. Faeldon, however, expressed his contempt for Sen. Gregorio Honasan for abandoning the cause.

He said Honasan, whom he called their “kuya” (elder brother), had helped in the planning of the Oakwood mutiny.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Avelino Razon, on the other hand, insisted Faeldon was helped by a female reporter in his escape.

“That is only his (Faeldon’s) statement. We are pursuing the investigation,” Razon said. “We’re maintaining that many saw him talking to a female reporter who helped him escape.”

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said the investigation on the reporter, Dana Batnag of the Japanese Jiji press, will continue.

Bartolome said the PNP had been expecting Faeldon to grant an interview to the media.

“We have been expecting him to discredit the official investigation, ngayon lang sya nagsalita, noon pa namin siya hinihintay,” Bartolome added. Bartolome, however, doubted if it was Faeldon who granted the interview.

Lawyer Trixie Angeles also expressed doubts that it was her client who spoke in the interview. Angeles said she had been Faeldon’s defense counsel since February last year and became familiar with the fugitive Marine officer. “It doesn’t sound like him, neither do the statements being attributed to him sound like him,” she stressed.

According to Angeles, she noticed the Visayan accent of the man who granted the interview.

“He’s not Visayan, (unless) he could have grown a Visayan accent in four months,” she said.

Angeles said she was a linguistics major and trained to trace the region of the accent of a spoken dialect or language.
“Languages are my specialty, that’s the first thing I recognized (in the interview), the accent is wrong,” she said.

Angeles said Faeldon could not have stayed long on the telephone to grant the interview, pointing out the risk of being electronically traced.

She said the interview could have been concocted by military intelligence in the effort to flush Faeldon out of hiding and further divide the Magdalo group.

“It was a very good attempt, but there are some things that he cannot disguise unless you’re a seasoned actor,” she said.

Honasan, through his spokesman and legal affairs officer JG Gan, also expressed doubts that it was Faeldon who spoke in the interview.

Gan said Honasan could not comment on the issue, noting Angeles herself doubted it was her client who spoke before the media.

“We cannot give any comment. We will be speculating as to the motivation of Capt. Faeldon,” Gan told reporters. “If indeed Capt. Faeldon gave the statement, it will not be right for us to speculate on his motivation for doing so.”

He denied the senator was involved in the Oakwood mutiny.

[cebu1029]

ning dagan lang na ug senador si trillanes para pasikat lang!

[jntio]

dapat lng sa iya