DIRECTOR general Augusto Santos of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will take the witness stand today at the resumption of the trial of detained senator Antonio Trillanes and 30 junior military officers belonging to the Magdalo group which staged the one-day Oakwood mutiny in 2003.

Defense counsel Ernesto Francisco said the testimony of Santos, who has also been asked to bring copies of NEDA’s 25-year Liguasan Marsh Development Framework Plan, and the oil exploration contracts in the area between the Philippine National Oil Corp. and the Malaysian firm Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd will shed light on the reason for the mutiny.

Francisco said the military offensive in February 2003, purportedly against elements of the Pentago kidnap-for-ransom gang at the Buliok complex in Pikit, North Cotabato that resulted in the death of hundreds of combatants on both sides, the evacuation of more than 300,000 residents, and the alleged abuses that resulted from there prompted the junior officers to occupy the Oakwood hotel.

State prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera said they are keen to see how the defense would use Santos’ testimony to disprove the coup d’etat case against the Magdalos. "We are very much interested to see how the defense would be able to embroider and stitch the irrelevant Liguasan oil exploration contracts entered into by the Philippine National Oil Company with a Malaysian company with the fact that the accused committed coup d’etat," he said. "How the NEDA director general can testify on the (Magdalos’) behalf is something to look forward to, like a movie on its premiere showing."

Francisco who had also wanted Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes to testify had his motion denied by Judge Oscar Pimentel who said the defense failed to cite Reyes as a "hostile witness" in his motion for the issuance of a subpoena.

The court said Reyes, who was Armed Forces chief when the Buliok offensive was launched and resigned after the Oakwood mutiny, was included in the list of the Magdalos’ grievances.

Francisco insisted that Reyes cannot be considered a hostile witness and it was the court which decided he was. He said he will also file later today a motion asking the court to subpoena former AFP chiefs Narciso Abaya and Generoso Senga, Gen. Cardozo Luna and Fr. Roberto Layson.

Abaya was head of the Southern Command based in Zamboanga City with jurisdiction over all military forces in Mindanao at the time of the Buliok offensive; Senga was chief of the Cotabato-based Army 6th Infantry Division that spearheaded the operation; Luna was commander of the Army 62nd Infantry Brigade that also took part in the operation, and Layson was parish priest of Pikit and took part in the relief operations for displaced residents.