Navy orders filing of raps vs Marine colonel

The Philippine Navy has ordered the filing of charges against a retired Marine officer who was earlier restricted to quarters for calling for a change in government last month. Col. Generoso Mariano, who retired from the service on July 17, will be undergoing pretrial investigation for allegedly violating Articles of War 63 [disrespect towards the President]; AW 91 [provoking speeches] and AW 96 [conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman]. Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay said there was no "sufficient evidence" to charge Mariano of violating AW 67 [mutiny]. Tonsay added that Navy chief Vice Admiral Alexander Pama ordered the filing of charges on the recommendation of the Special Investigation Committee that looked into the case of Mariano. On July 15, or two days before Mariano's retirement, the Marine colonel was restricted to quarters after higher military authorities got wind of his July 3 video recording, which showed him lamenting on how the soldiers, like ordinary people, experience poverty due to rising cost of food and medicine. In the video, Mariano said that if the government has no intention or has no capability to save the people from these problems, then "it is the duty, it is the right of every Filipino, including soldiers, to replace the government." On July 19, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima sent an an eight-page legal opinion to the Armed Forces’ Judge Advocate General Office (JAGO) saying Mariano’s video-taped message contains contemptuous condemnation and wholesale attack of President Benigno Aquino III’s government. De Lima said the call to replace the Aquino government implied through illegal means is "patently seditious." Deputy commander Mariano previously served as deputy commander of the Naval Reserve Command. He is still restricted to his quarters even though he has retired from the service since his alleged violations of the Articles of War were committed before his retirement. The pretrial investigation will determine if there is sufficient ground to proceed with a full trial before a military tribunal or not. Tonsay said Pama has given instructions that Mariano's rights be respected in the course of the pretrial investigation. "His [Pama's] first instruction [was] to follow proper procedures, observe the rule of law and respect the rights of Col. Mariano," Tonsay said. — RSJ/KBK, GMA News