Military court president hearing Miranda, et al’s case dislodged

By Ronron
July 18, 2007

The President of the Special General Court Martial created by military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. to try the case against officers who allegedly plotted coup d’ etat in February 2006 was dislodged on Wednesday after one of the accused challenged him.

Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, who is concurrently the chief of the Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, was forced to leave the court in the middle of the hearing yesterday at an Army camp in Tanay, Rizal after former Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda entered a peremptory challenge against him.

Yano heads the seven-man panel created by Esperon in November last year.

He was immediately replaced yesterday by panel member Maj. Gen. Raul Caballes but the latter was also ejected after accused Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim posed the same peremptory challenge.

A peremptory challenge is allowed by the court martial rules so that the accused could have certain amount of control over the panel trying them, said defense lawyer Trixie Angeles. It does not require any reason to be cited and is allowed before an accused is arraigned.

A challenge for cause against panel members, meanwhile, is another right granted to the accused but it can only be availed after he is arraigned, said Angeles. This time, the accused has to cite a reason like perceived impartiality by a panel member.

With the ejection of Caballes, court member Maj. Gen. Cirano Austria assumed the President’s role. But he was questioned by the defense lawyers because they said Austria is junior to Miranda.

Under Section 4 of the Manual for Court Martial, a panel must have a President higher in rank and senior to the highest-ranking accused. The defense lawyers said Austria may be equal in rank with Miranda but the former is junior only to the latter in the Seniority Lineal List of the military.

But even before the matter could be resolved, the court adjourned.

Angeles said that for the defense, the court has no President as of this time. She said the military has to find another replacement for Yano and Caballes to complete the seven-man panel.

The next hearing was set on July 27. It will be the eighth since the proceedings began in December last year.

The military prosecution has aired its suspicion that the defense is delaying the arraignment of their client so they be saved through prescription. Under the court martial rules, a case may be dismissed against an accused if he is not arraigned within two years from the time of the commission of the alleged crime.

The group of Miranda allegedly connived with Left-leaning groups and anti-government sectors in the society in February last year to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through a coup d’ etat./DMS