Detained officer's wife
puts blame on Esperon

THE wife of detained Army Maj. Jason Aquino on Monday blamed Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon for her husband's failure to see his ailing sister before the latter died at 4 a.m. yesterday in Cebu.

Mrs. Marife Aquino said her husband had long asked for permission to be allowed to see his elder sister Erna Aquino-Manso who was suffering from cervical cancer but was turned down.

Aquino is presently detained along with 27 other Army and Marine officers, led by former Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, for their alleged roles in the failed power grab attempt in February 2006. He and his co-accused are being tried in a court martial for various offenses, including mutiny.

Aquino had initially asked the military court for permission to visit his sister. The request was endorsed to Esperon, the court's convening authority, who rejected it because Aquino was considered a "security risk."

"Why are they saying that my husband is a security risk? What will he do? He just wants to visit his sister. That is long overdue. That is his right - to visit his sister...Do we have to beg? Where is his (Esperon) human side? It's not right. What he's doing is inhumane," Mrs. Aquino said.

Mrs. Aquino said her husband would be seeking permission from the court anew to allow him to attend his sister's wake. The court is set to meet on Friday for the resumption of the trial.

Interviewed yesterday, Esperon confirmed that he turned down Aquino's request to visit his sister. "That's one of the lessons here. If you want all the privileges, then don't go to jail. Don't commit things that will put you in jail."

Told that Aquino's sister had already died, the military chief said: "I'm sorry to hear that, but it comes in the course of time. When you are confined, you cannot have all the privileges." He said he had to consider "things" in denying Aquino's request, including his being a flight and security risk.