By Ronron
May 23, 2005
The 181 enlisted military personnel who took part in the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny vowed their allegiance to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Arroyo administration on Monday morning during the flag ceremony in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, marking the start of their return to the fold of the military service.
Reading a prepared copy, the soldiers, who come from the Philippine Army, Marines and Navy SWAG, swore in Filipino that they “will obey the law and the reasonable and humane mandate that are legally enforced by the authorities of the Republic of the Philippines, without any reservation or intention to defy.”
“To our President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, we would like to manifest our heartfelt support to her leadership and programs for peace and unity among all Filipinos,” Navy SWAG Chief Petty Officer Leonito Fernin said in Filipino in a short speech he delivered during the same rites on behalf of all 181 soldiers.
Fernin, who is the most senior in the group, thanked their families and the AFP leadership for their support to and understanding of the 181 EP’s.
“We would like to thank also all the Filipinos for giving us the second chance to be of service to you. I hope you will help us (181 soldiers) rise and move on, and forget what happened at Oakwood,” he said.
In their oath, the soldiers promised to religiously assume their responsibilities and perform their tasks as soldiers to the best of their abilities.
Likewise, they pledged to uphold and protect the Constitution, as well as abide by it.
Fresh from receiving their punishment for their participation in the Oakwood incident, the soldiers yesterday also expressed willingness to abide with the penalties for any wrongdoing under the rules and regulations of the AFP and the Philippine government.
The 181 soldiers have just been sentenced to a three-rank demotion and forfeiture of two-thirds of their salary after pleading guilty to the charge of violation of the certain Articles of War, except mutiny.
The soldiers were released last Friday after the court considered their detention for almost two years good enough to offset the one-year detention sentence. The Marines and Army soldiers were confined at Fort Bonifacio in Makati City while the Navy SWAG members were detained at the Naval Base in Sangley, Cavite.
After the oath-taking ceremony, the soldiers were immediately briefed about the two-week pre-deployment training that they need to undergo before they could be re-assigned to their respective mother units.
With the commencement yesterday of the two-week training, AFP Public Information Officer Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual asked that the case on the 181 enlisted military personnel be closed and the focus be shifted on the on-going case against the 99 officers and 11 other EP’s who also participated in the same mutinous activity.
In an earlier interview, Atty. Ruel Pulido, defense counsel of the suspected mutineers, said 67 of the 99 officers are already contemplating on entering into a plea bargaining agreement with the prosecution similar to what the 181 EP’s did.
The 11 remaining EP’s, for their part, are still awaiting the decision of the General Court Martial on the motion they filed for the re-investigation of their case, as they assert they were not in Oakwood at the time of the accident.
More than 300 military officers and soldiers took over Oakwood Premier hotel and condominium in Makati City on July 27, 2003 to air their grievances against the alleged corruption in the military service and the Arroyo administration./DMS
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