BY ASHZEL HACHERO

AFTER almost five years of trial, the Makati City court yesterday sentenced two leaders of the Oakwood mutiny to life imprisonment and seven other mutineers to six to 12 years in prison for the crime of coup d’état.

The nine last week changed their plea to guilty.

Twenty other officers and two enlisted personnel are still on trial.

The life sentence, actually 40 years imprisonment, was meted by Judge Oscar Pimentel on Army Captains Gerardo Gambala and Milo Maestrecampo.

The two, belonging to Class ’95 of the Philippine Military Academy, were among the leaders of the Magdalo group that seized the Oakwood hotel in Makati City in July 2003.

The other leaders were Navy Lt (s.g.) and now Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Lt. (s.g.) James Layug and Marine Capt. Gary Alejano.

Maestrecampo and Gambala are also leaders of a faction of the Magdalo group which in 2004 apologized to the government for the mutiny. The group also later issued a statement expressing support for the administration of Arroyo.

Sentenced to six to 12 years imprisonment were Captains Albert Baloloy, John Andres, Laurence Luis Somera and Alvin Ebreo, and 1st Lt. Florentino Somera, Cleo Dongga-as and Kristopher Bryan Yasay.

Pimentel said the time spent in detention since 2003 by the nine, all from the Scout Rangers and the Special Forces, would be credited to them.

The nine would remain in their detention cell at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio as the court granted their request for the suspension of the issuance of the commitment order that would have sent them to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.

Pimentel said the 15-day suspension will allow the accused "whether to move or to appeal the case and to finalize their business with the military court martial."

Assistant state prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon said they were surprised by the sentence because they recommended a lower penalty – 17-20 years imprisonment for Gambala and Maestrecampo and 10-12 years for the remaining seven – when the officers changed their plea to guilty in last week’s hearing.

"It’s harsher than what we expected," he said, but the court had to impose the penalty as provided for the Revised Penal Code.

In the case of the seven other officers, Fadullon said the court was able to establish during the bail hearing of the case four years ago that they were only "followers and participants."

The court had granted the petition for bail of the officers four years ago except for the core leaders but they remained in detention because of charges they are facing before a military court.

State prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera said the officers were relieved that the case is over. "They, especially Maestrecampo, even expressed their thanks for having closure on the case."

Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, chief of the AFP public information office, said there was no compromise agreement between the AFP and the officers in their change of plea.

On talks of a presidential pardon, Bacarro said the matter is "beyond the Armed Forces of the Philippines."