11 cleared officers walk out of detention

BY VICTOR REYES

THE Armed Forces yesterday released from detention 11 Army and Marines officers who were recently cleared of mutiny charges in connection with an alleged plan to overthrow the Arroyo government in February 2006.

The release order was signed on October 30 by Lt. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang, AFP vice chief who was acting chief at that time. AFP chief Gen. Victor Ibrado was then in Hawaii attending a meeting of armed forces chiefs in the Pacific.

Maclang consulted Ibrado before signing the order.

Ibrado met with nine of the 11 officers over lunch before they were turned over to their units.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., chief of the AFP public affairs office, said the release was effected only yesterday because the officers had to undergo some requirements, including medical check-up.

The 11, cleared by the military court on October 15 for lack of evidence, are Col. Januario Caringal and Maj. Domingo Francisco Fernandez of the Marines, and Army officers Lt. Colonels Nestor Flordeliza and Edmundo Malabanjot, Captains Ruben Guinolbay, Frederick Sales, and Allan Aurino, and First Lieutenants Ervin Divinagracia, Jacon Cordero, Sandro Sereno and Richiemel Caballes.

The prosecution, led by Lt. Col. Jose Feliciano Loy, attempted to re-open the case against the 11 by filing a motion for a leave of court to collate what it described was "newly discovered" evidence. The court junked the motion Tuesday last week, when it also junked the motion of the 18 remaining officers for a finding of not guilty for the charge of mutiny.

The 18 whose trial will continue are led by former Marines commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, former Scout Ranger chief Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Medal of Valor awardees Col. Ariel Querubin and Lt. Col. Custodio Parcon.

Brawner said Caringal and Caballes were not in the meeting with Ibrado in Camp Aguinaldo.

He said Caringal, who is under the custody of the Navy, was not able to make it because he was informed of the meeting late. He could not say why Caballes failed to attend the meeting.

Caballes and the rest of the cleared officers had been detained in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal since 2006.

Asked why Ibrado met with the officers prior to their formal release, Brawner said: "He considers these officers like sons."

Brawner noted the officers, specifically those from the Army, were under Ibrado when he was commander of the Special Operations Command (Socom). The Army officers were assigned with the First Scout Ranger Regiment, one of the units under Socom.

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