(Update) 9 pardoned Magdalo officers released

MANILA, Philippines - After having been granted executive clemency by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday and after five years in detention cells, nine convicted Magdalo soldiers finally walked out as free men Friday. The junior military officers, after having completed their medical exams and secured a release order from the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148, were released from custody by the newly installed commanding general of the Philippine Army, Lt. Gen. Victor S. Ibrado. The nine officers were met by their legal counsel Atty. Elaine Rombaoa. On Thursday morning, a joint sworn acceptance of conditional pardon was signed by Captains Gerardo O. Gambala, Milo D. Maestrecampo, Albert T. Baloloy, John P. Andres, Alvin Ebreo, Laurence Louis B. Somera, 1st Lts. Florentino B. Somera and Cleo B. Donga-as, and 2nd Lt. Brian M. Yasay at their detention cells in Fort Bonifacio, stating their acceptance of the conditional pardon along with the conditions, namely that each of them shall be permanently and perpetually disqualified from rendering military service; and, that each of them shall not commit any crime or felony or participate in a coup d’etat or other forms of military adventurism. The nine officers were charged and convicted of participating in a coup d’etat. They were involved in the July 27, 2003 mutiny at the former Oakwood Premier Residences (now Ascott Makati) in the Makati central business district. Reached for comment, former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr. said he was glad that the President acted on his recommendation to pardon the Magdalo soldiers, and that the soldiers are now free. "These are good men who have gone astray, but fortunately they have learned the errors of their ways. They are smart and could contribute a lot to the society, and I am glad they could serve the country again — as civilians," he told reporters in a phone interview. The AFP will be offering a seminar to the nine Magdalo officers to prepare them for their transition back into the mainstream of society, Mr. Ibrado said. Other pardoned former AFP officers involved in the Oakwood mutiny recently took their oaths as regular agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. — Jhoanna Frances S. Valdez, BusinessWorld