Two Magdalo soldiers get six years in jail

A Makati court has sentenced two soldiers to six and a half years in jail for their participation in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny. Judge Andres Bartolome Soriano of the Makati Regional Trial Court branch 148 found 1Lt. Lawrence San Juan and 1Lt Rex Bolo guilty of mutiny and coup d'etat charges, according to a report by GMA reporter Emil Sumangil on GMA News TV's “Balitanghali” on Friday. Sumangil said the two were sentenced to six years, six months, and one day in jail each. Quoting the soldiers' legal counsel, Sumangil said the two will appeal the decision before the Court of Appeals. The two soldiers, who reportedly wanted to return to service, are currently in the custody of the Philippine Army. Failed revolt The duo were among the more than 300 junior officers who took over the Oakwood Premier Ayala Centre (now Ascott) in Makati City on July 27, 2003 in a failed bid by a group of junior officers to force Aquino's predecessor Gloria Arroyo to resign over alleged corruption. Among their leaders were former Navy officer and now Sen. Antonio Trillantes IV. The other leaders of what has been tagged as the Magdalo group were Army Capt. Gerardo Gambala, Army Capt. Milo Maestrecampo, Navy Ltsg. James Layug and Marine Capt. Gary Alejano. The soldiers claimed that the take-over of Oakwood was spontaneous and that they were simply airing their grievances against the Arroyo administration and the alleged graft and corruption in the military. Arroyo crushed the revolt, the first of three mounted against her during the nearly 10 years she spent in power, and later pardoned some of the participants. She is now detained at a military hospital while on trial for allegedly plundering $8.8 million from state lottery funds during her years in office from 2001 to 2010. Rejected president's offer Aquino, who came to power in 2010 after promising to fight corruption, granted amnesty that same year to all officers and soldiers who had risen up against Arroyo. However San Juan and Bolo, on trial at the time, both rejected the new president's offer and chose to have their names cleared through the civilian court, military spokesman Colonel Arnulfo Burgos told AFP. "They were both offered (amnesty), but they refused it," Burgos said, adding that they were the only two to reject the pardon. Both men had been expelled from military service, like the officers who joined the revolts and later accepted the amnesty offer, said Burgos. San Juan and Bola are currently out on bail, said Peralta, the court official. Regional trial court judge Andres Soriano also ruled that both men may re-apply for bail if they planned to appeal the verdict, Peralta added. Among those pardoned and freed from prison during Aquino's amnesty was former naval officer Antonio Trillanes, who had won a seat in the senate in 2007 while campaigning from his military prison cell. Senator Trillanes is now a close political ally of the President. — with reports from Kimberly Jane Tan, Agence France-Presse/KBK/VVP, GMA News