Church chastises amnesty move

THE Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) asked President Benigno Aquino 3rd on Wednesday to review the amnesty given to the rebel soldiers who took part in three mutinies against the previous Arroyo administration.

“Given the speed with which the rebel soldiers were given amnesty, the process should be reviewed for it to be more efficient, said Rudy Diamante, the executive director of the CBCP’s Commission on Prison Pastoral Care.

He added that President Aquino’s granting of amnesty as a gesture of reconciliation to the soldiers who mounted three revolts during the watch of then President Gloria Arroyo should not be the basis for releasing other law offenders, since that does not constitute restorative justice.

“People should not just enter prison to be made to suffer . . . there has to be some sort of restoration or rehabilitation,” Diamante said.

In the case of the more than 300 rebel soldiers who belong to the Magdalo group of rebel military officers and men, he described President Aquino’s granting of amnesty to them as “not rehabilitation-driven.”

“He [Mr. Aquino] should have basis. As I said, when there is mistake committed, there should also be accountability,” Diamante said.

He added that the decision of the President to release the more 300 rebel soldiers, who include Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th, was political.

“I think it’s a political act. It’s a political act of the President when [he] grants amnesty . . . because he wants to have some sort of reconciliation with the soldiers,” Diamante said.

But the CBCP official noted that it would be hard for Mr. Aquino to say that he is not mocking the justice system because there are more deserving “common prisoners” who have been in jail longer than the rebel soldiers.

“How would you explain that? Something’s really wrong here,” Diamante said.

He called on the government to institute much-needed reforms in the country’s penal system and the process for the President’s granting of pardon.

“There should be checks and balances in the system if we really want our pardon policy to be untainted,” Diamante said.

The House of Representatives is ready to approve a proposal concurring with Mr. Aquino’s amnesty proclamation for the rebel soldiers.

During a chance interview, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said that House Concurrent Resolution 07, which will concur with the President’s Proclamation 50, will be the top agenda of the justice committee headed by Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. of Iloilo as soon as Congress resumes its session on November 8 after the All Saints’ Day and Halloween break.

“As we convene on November 8, the justice committee will also meet, perhaps a few days after, that will be the first item in its agenda,” Belmonte added, referring to the measure authored by Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada 3rd and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales 2nd.

He said that there is a need to pass the resolution immediately to ensure peace and reconciliation in the country.

“It [passage of the resolution], is very important and that is something that we should work on. I am in favor of it not only because the President has signed [the proclamation] but it is right,” Belmonte added.

“I don’t like to say easy or not easy [to approve] but obviously we will concur. Maybe [it’s] hard, [there will be] a lot of opposition or maybe not, I think we should act with dispatch,” he added.

Tupas earlier said that the hearing on the resolution supporting the amnesty proclamation for the rebel soldiers would be on November 10.

Court defers trial

With the President granting amnesty to the rebel soldiers, a Makati City court also on Wednesday deferred the hearing on the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege involving Trillanes and a handful of military officers and men from the Magdalo group.

Judge Elmo Alameda of Branch 150 of the Regional Trial Court of Makati City said that there is no need to continue with the trial since Mr. Aquino has asked the House and the Senate to concur with the President’s amnesty proclamation.

“It is moot and academic to continue with this trial. The promulgation is no longer needed after the [President] requested Congress to approve amnesty,” defense lawyer Ernesto Francisco said after he was asked by Alameda to explain the motion to defer the hearing of the case.

The Manila Peninsula siege was one of the three mutinies staged by the disgruntled soldiers during the Arroyo administration.

The other two were the Oakwood mutiny of 2003 and the Marine standoff in 2006. -Jomar Canlas, Reporter with reports from Ruben D. Manahan 4th and Sammy Martin, Manila Times