Trillanes-led Magdalo soldiers cut ties with long-time lawyer

Officers and soldiers belonging to the mutinous Magdalo group have parted ways with the lawyer who has represented them since they were detained following the failed 2003 Oakwood mutiny. Ruel Pulido said the group of Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes, one of the most prominent leaders of the mutinous soldiers, told him last week that they no longer need his services, which the laywer had extended for free. Pulido has filed a manifestation before the Makati City regional trial court that he is withdrawing his appearance for Trillanes, 11 other officers and two enlisted personnel in connection with their pending coup d'etat case. It was not immediately clear as to why the group of Trillanes cut ties with Pulido, who has been tagged by security officials as the propagandist of the Magdalo Group. Asked what prompted Trillanes’ group to severe ties with him, Pulido said: "It might be in the interest of all." "It was a mutual decision," Pulido said. The lawyer also said that he will withdraw from the case of 12 officers and 33 other officers being tried for several charges, including mutiny, by a general court martial in Camp Aguinaldo. Pulido added that he will notify a Quezon City court that he is withdrawing as legal counsel of three other Magdalo officers – Second Lieutenants Aldrina Baldonado and Angelbert Gay, and Navy Lt. (SG) Kiram Sadava – who are being linked to a supposed attempt to disrupt President Arroyo’s state of the nation address last July. The three officers were among those arrested by a military and police raiding team at an apartment near the Batasan Pambansa complex in Quezon City where the President’s address was to be held. The raid yielded explosives which were supposedly intended for bombing the complex. At the start of the hearings of the civilian and military courts, Pulido represented as many as 200 officers and men. The number dwindled after most of the enlisted personnel were freed, while some officers fired him earlier. Among the officers who have dropped Pulido are two of the six core leaders of the group – Army Captains Gerardo Gambala and Milo Maestrecampo – who both later signed a manifesto declaring support for President Arroyo. Pulido was investigated by the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group shortly after the supposed failed February power grab by the group of detained Brigadier General Danilo Lim, erstwhile commander of the elite First Scout Ranger Regiment. In January, Pulido was accused by then Army chief and now Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon of facilitating the escape of five Magdalo officers from a detention facility inside the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio. -GMANews.TV