Trillanes, standoff comrades apologize for Nov 29 walkout

Detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and the other Magdalo members who staged a walkout that led to the Makati City standoff last November 29 apologized to the Makati court for their actions, a lawyer said Tuesday. In a chance interview with reporters after the Magdalo hearing, Vicente Verdadero, lawyer of Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, said those who participated in the walkout apologized to the court during the hearing and even submitted a formal letter of apology to Judge Oscar Pimentel. Aside from this, there was no mention of the walkout nor the standoff throughout the hearing, Verdadero said. "Nag-apologize ang akusado na nag-walkout noong November 29 (The accused who walked out last November 29 apologized to the court). They sent a letter of apology," he said. For his part, lawyer Rey Robles, legal counsel for Trillanes, said those who participated in the Nov. 29 courtroom walkout said in the letter that they did not mean to disrespect the court and that the walkout was merely "incidental" at that time. In a radio interview, Robles also said that the Makati court judge accepted the apology signed by 14 officers who took part in the walkout, but warned of a more severe punishment against similar future actions. Those who signed the manifestation included Trillanes, Lt. S.G. James Layug, Capt. Gary Alejano, Lt. S.G. Eugene Gonzales, Lt. Andy Torrato, Lt. S.G. Manuel Cabochan, Lt. J.G. Arturo Pascua, 2Lt. Jonel Salangsang, Ens. Armand Ponsejos, and PO3 Julius Mesa. "They have the highest respect for the court. They did not mean to disrespect the court and that it was just incidental that they had to act at that time. And they respectfully sought the apology of the court and the honorable court actually accepted the apology," Robles said in an interview on dzBB radio. Robles also said Trillanes and six other co-accused brought up the issue of filing a waiver for non-attendance in the hearing. He said during the hearing, the court allowed the Trillanes and his co-accused not to appear in hearings, as long as the waiver is filed three days before the hearing. "Si Sen. Trillanes at yung 6 pa na akusado ay nag-file ng waiver kaso lang yung order ni Judge na kahapon lang din dinala sa PNP Custodial Management Center, naka-enumerate yung dadalhin ng PNP. So ni-request ng PNP na sumama sila lahat," Robles said. "Pero na-clarify na ngayon na may karapatan ang akusado na mag-waive. Ang request nga ni judge ay i-file ng three days before the hearing," he added. Also during the hearing, Verdadero said during the hearing, Lim was asked what the Magdalo soldiers were doing at Oakwood during their short-lived mutiny in July 2003. Verdadero said the hearing would end Lim's "involvement" in the Magdalo case, where he stood as a witness. The Makati Regional Trial Court hearing on the coup d'etat case against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and other soldiers accused for their involvement in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny ended bout an hour after it started Tuesday morning. No untoward incident was reported. Radio dzBB reported that at 10:45 a.m., security personnel escorted Trillanes and his co-accused out of the courtroom into waiting vans. Trillanes and the Oakwood soldiers had been placed under tight security throughout the hearing. Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, who stood as witness for the Magdalo soldiers during the proceedings, was also tightly guarded after days after leading, along with Trillanes, a courtroom walkout and a standoff in Makati City last November 29. The report said that security remained tight inside and outside the courtroom, with Army soldiers and police keeping watch outside the court building. Media representatives were not allowed to get near the courtroom and were confined to a room several meters away from the hearing venue. Anti-riot police and Air Force personnel with fiberglass shields kept media away from the accused, preventing them from conducting any interviews. - GMANews.TV