Honasan to testify for Magdalo officers - defense

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan is set to face the Makati regional trial court in September to testify for the junior military officers involved in the short-lived 2003 Oakwood mutiny, a defense counsel said Thursday. Interviewed after the continuation of the coup hearing against the junior officers led by former Navy officer-turned-Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr said Honasan is scheduled to appear before the court on Sept. 4. “We have already informed the court of our intention to present Senator Honasan on September 4,” he said. The junior officers, collectively known as the Magdalo group, are facing coup charges before the sala of Makati Regional Trial Court branch 148 Judge Oscar Pimentel for taking over the posh Oakwood Hotel Premiere (now Ascott) on July 27, 2003, and demanding the resignation of President Arroyo. Aside from Honasan, Francisco said the defense also wants the court to summon Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, and former Armed Forces chief and now Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director Dionisio Santiago as hostile witnesses. Franciso said Honasan is expected to disprove that the National Recovery Program, which the senator authored, was the blueprint that inspired the Magdalo group to overthrow the government. “He (Honasan) will testify that the NRP is not and never is a plan to takeover the government. That it is just an ordinary platform of reform,” he said. He added that Honasan will also belie allegations that he met with the junior officers prior to the Oakwood incident to plan a coup against the Arroyo government. Honasan, who had denied meeting the accused officers prior to the rebellion, was originally included in the coup charges, but the Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped the charges last year for lack of evidence. Military and police officials had said that Honasan was the “kuya” the Magdalo group was referring to in the documents seized after the Oakwood rebellion. - GMANews.TV